Nanoparticle delivery of suicide DNA for epithelial ovarian cancer therapy.
Intraperitoneal administration of polymeric nanoparticles to deliver DNA encoding suicide genes holds much promise as an effective therapy for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. Poly(beta-amino ester)s, a class of cationic, biodegradable polymers complex to DNA to form nanoparticles that deliver DNA to cells in ovarian tumors. Modifications to poly(beta-amino ester)s can improve both the efficiency and specificity with which DNA is delivered to tumor cells. Preclinical studies to test therapeutic efficacy of gene therapy strategies that are under development make use of mouse models for epithelial ovarian cancer and new imaging technologies.