An adaptable materials platform can safely and efficiently deliver a wide range of genetic medicines, a breakthrough that could accelerate the development of next‑generation vaccines, cancer treatments, and gene‑silencing drugs.
The platform uses modular building blocks that self‑assemble with Ribonucleic acid- RNA to form nanoscale delivery particles. The materials incorporate a reversible “host–guest” linking system, allowing the fine‑tuning of the particles' stability and behavior. By simple variations in the chemical structure of the building blocks, diverse formulations can be rapidly generated suited to different therapeutic needs.
The researchers successfully tested the materials delivering RNA into a broad range of cell types with efficiency matching or exceeding that of leading commercial transfection reagents, while showing no acute harmful effects on cells. The delivered RNAs were shown to reduce the expression of cancer-associated genes in breast tumor tissue in mice and to induce protection against H1N1 influenza in mice.
