Abstract
Bryony J. Telford1, Sanaz Yahyanejad1, Thijs de Gunst1, Harm C. den Boer1, Rogier M. Vos1, Marieke Stegink1, Marion T.J. van den Bosch1, Mir Farshid Alemdehy1, Laurens A.H. van Pinxteren1, Roel Q.J. Schaapveld1 and Michel Janicot1
1 InteRNA Technologies BV, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Correspondence to:
Michel Janicot, | email: | janicot@interna-technologies.com |
Keywords: miR-193a-3p; microRNA mimic; microRNA delivery
Received: October 16, 2020 Accepted: February 01, 2021 Published: March 02, 2021
ABSTRACT
Compelling evidence demonstrates that miR-193a-3p is a tumor suppressor microRNA in many cancer types, and its reduced expression is linked to cancer initiation and progression, metastasis, and therapy resistance. However, its mechanism of action is not consistently described between studies, and often contradicts the pleiotropic role of a microRNA in manipulating several different mRNA targets. We therefore comprehensively investigated miRNA-193a-3p's mode of action in a panel of human cancer cell lines, with a variety of genetic backgrounds, using 1B3, a synthetic microRNA mimic. Interestingly, the exact mechanism through which 1B3 reduced cell proliferation varied between cell lines. 1B3 efficiently reduced target gene expression, leading to reduced cell proliferation/survival, cell cycle arrest, induction of apoptosis, increased cell senescence, DNA damage, and inhibition of migration. SiRNA silencing of 1B3 target mRNAs further highlighted the advantage of the pleiotropic mechanism of 1B3 action, as repression of individual targets did not achieve the same robust effect on cell proliferation in all cell lines. Importantly, a novel lipid nanoparticle-based formulation of 1B3, INT-1B3, demonstrated marked anti-tumor activity as a single agent following systemic administration in tumor-bearing mice. Together, these data strongly support the development of 1B3 as a novel therapeutic agent for treatment of human cancer.