Nanotechnology Case Study

Case Study Assignment: RNA interference: what advances have been made in the last decade? Name: Ronghua Wei CID: 00740579 Supervisors:Professor Kurt Drikamer, Dr. Maureen Taylor MRes in Drug Discovery and Development (2015-2016) 1 Content Abstract.............................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Machinery.......................................................................................................................................... 4 Challenges ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Delivery ...................................................................................................................................................................

This year, an estimate of 53,070 adults, have been or will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. (27,670 men and 25,400 women). Pancreatic cancer is the ninth most common cancer in women. Pancreatic cancer should have the most attention because doctors still don’t know how to diagnose this type of cancer yet. The main problem is cost-effective screening tests that easily and reliably find early-stages of pancreatic cancer in people, sometimes show no symptoms.Often “times it is” not found until later stages when the cancer can no longer be surgically removed and has spread from the pancreas to other parts of the body. ("Pancreatic Cancer: Statistics", 2017)

Pancreatic Cancer is cancer of an organ in the human body called the pancreas, which is located behind the lower part of the stomach. The function of this organ is to secrete certain essential enzymes to digest food and also secrete hormones to metabolize sugars such as insulin and glucagon (Mayoclinic). People get pancreatic cancer when the cells of the pancreas develop genetic mutations; and these can form in both the exocrine and endocrine cells of the pancreas, but exocrine tumors are more common than endocrine tumors. Because this cancer spreads very quickly throughout the body and the symptoms of the disease don’t usually appear until the cancer is at an advanced stage, it is a leading cause of death

There are many forms of cancer. Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Leukemia, and Brain Cancer just to name a few, but the one I am bringing attention to in this essay is Pancreatic Cancer. Pancreatic Cancer is a very aggressive form of cancer and it has many risky factors. Many people do not know those risky factors important information dealing with Pancreatic Cancer and I will explain a few of those important things in this essay. The American Cancer Society and the Cancer Treatment Centers of America gave me a lot of information to help write about this topic.

Pancreatic Cancer is currently one of the deadliest cancers in the world. In the United States alone, Pancreatic Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death among males and third in females causing 19,480 and 24,530 deaths respectively (Siegel et al., 2013). It has a five year survival rate of less than three percent in the United States (Siegel et al., 2013). This is mainly due to late diagnosis, surgical difficulties, aggressive metastases and resistance to apoptosis (Li et al., 2014). Surgical intervention has been seen as the most effective form of treatment for pancreatic tumors but due to late detection, surgical options become difficult to pursue. As a result, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are the main routes of treatment for patients (Li et al., 2014). Unfortunately not only are these routes very low in efficacy (Li et al., 2014), but have incredibly devastating side effects on the body and the overall quality of life of patients (Love et al., 2006).

Pancreatic cancer is lethal malignancy with a mortality rate that almost equals its incidence. It is the 4th leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with only a 5-year survival rate of about 6%. Pancreatic cancer remains to be one of the most aggressive tumors. When diagnosed 60-80% patients already have locally advanced or the tumor has already metastasized. A majority of pancreatic cancers are derived from the exocrine part of the pancreas. The exocrine part of the pancreas produces digestive enzymes that help break down proteins, fats, and starches. There are several mutations that have been identified in pancreatic cancer; these mutations can lead to potential biomarkers, leading towards a better prognosis for high risk patients.

As humans we are designed to overcome problems and mysteries and pancreatic cancer is one of our biggest challenges we have encountered in our modern

Medsaic developed new platform technology, now known as DotScanTM, which is a solid-phase cell-capture assay using an antibody mircoarray to immunophenotype cancer cells[2], as well as

Pancreatic Cancer is a form of cancer in which malignant cancer cells invade the pancreas, a gland that produces digestive fluid and hormones that regulate blood sugar. There are two types of pancreatic cancer: exocrine and endocrine cancer. The malignant cells can infiltrate either the exocrine pancreatic cells, responsible for digestive fluid, or the endocrine pancreatic cells, responsible for regulatory hormones. If the pancreas’ exocrine cells are affected metabolic functions are slowed or stopped completely. Thus, this results in death. If the endocrine cells of the pancreas are affected hormones such as Insulin are unable to be produced and the bodies organs will shut down. Pancreatic Cancer usually begins in the exocrine cells and moves into the endocrine cells (Movva). Pancreatic cancer occurs when cells are mutated from genetic dispositions or detrimental behavioral habits. These mutated cells metastasize to form a tumor. Pancreatic cancer can afflict anyone, However, it is more common in those of African American descent, those with excessive body weights, and those who partake in risky behavioral habits. Pancreatic cancer is an incredibly lethal disease.

Despite decades of research, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) has become the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. In fact, by 2020, it is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Personalized, or precision medicine, has resulted in improving patient outcomes in other tumor systems. However, for pancreatic cancer patients, there are a limited number of evidence-based targeted therapeutic options that are currently available. Significant advances in DNA sequencing technology have resulted in the identification of a number of genetic mutations and the delineation of core signaling pathways important in PDA. This has subsequently resulted in an

The first discovery of pancreatic cancer was thought to be during the 18th century, but the first cases were reported in the 1800s. As more cancers were discovered throughout the body, more research was done on it. It has been a problem for hundreds of years, but there was and still isn’t a real cure. Within the last 10 years more light has been shed upon the subject and more research is being done. Pancreatic cancer, like all other cancers has no “cure”, but there are ways to treat it. This type of cancer is one of the most deadly kinds, especially if it is not caught early on. According to Pancreatic Cancer Action, the risks of people ages 45-84 is about 84.6% and when people get diagnosed they are usually under the age of 65 (“Causes

Pancreatic cancer (PC) remains one of the most aggressive and devastating malignancies with overall five years survival probability less than 7% for all stages combined. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer related death in the United States, with 53,670 new cases and estimated 43,090 deaths in 2017. In China, the incidence and death of pancreatic cancer patients is estimated to be 90,100 and 79,400 respectively. The main possibly curative treatment is surgical resection; in any case, because of late presenting clinical features, roughly 30 to 40 percent have locally advanced disease and another 40 percent have metastatic tumor at the time of diagnosis and accordingly palliative chemotherapy remains the main choice for most of these

The siRNA molecule is the product of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. The starting molecule in the pathway is a long “triggering” double stranded RNA (dsRNA). The dsRNA is formed from either an RNAi molecule inserted into the cell or a siRNA which complexes with a specific strand of messenger RNA

Abstract: Increasing evidence suggests cell-to-cell communication is possible through extracellular RNAs (exRNAs). RNA (including mRNA, miRNA, or lincRNA) has, on many accounts, been found packaged inside extracellular vesicles (EVs) which may traverse through a variety of bodily fluids to be taken up by a recipient cell. The biological significance of exRNAs is largely unknown. However, preliminary studies suggest they may play a role in a variety of important biological processes, including stem cell maintenance, apoptosis, and cancer metastasis. Furthermore, there is much hope in eventually utilizing EVs as a drug delivery vector to supply damaged tissues with therapeutic RNAs. Such a system could overcome the immunological challenges associated with viral vectors. Advances in understanding the biology of exRNA transfer have been hindered by a lack of dynamic methods for detecting changes in RNA concentration in vivo. Northern blotting, microarray, and PCR based approaches are invasive, and sometimes lack sensitivity when dealing with small quantities of RNA. While evidence of their significance is growing, to date no exRNA has been shown to enter and function in a cell in vivo. To address these issues, I have been working on the development of a sensor system for detecting exogenous small RNAs. This molecular sensor will exploit the ability of microRNAs (miRNAs) to bind to, and repress, target

Surface modification for rapid endothelialization of vascular biomaterials is known as an important way to prevent thrombosis and intimal hyperplasia. Moreover, therapeutical manipulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) expression via local delivery of miRNA mimics or inhibitors by electrospun ultrafine fibers has demonstrated the promise in tissue regeneration. In this work, a dual-functional electrospun membrane was developed by combining Arg-Glu-Asp-Val (REDV) peptide-modification of the fiber surface to enhance vascular endothelial cell (VEC) adhesion and encapsulation of miRNA-126 (miR-126) complexes in the electrospun fibers to accelerate VEC proliferation. The electrospun membranes were specially prepared by emulsion electrospinning