Tamara Minko, Ph.D., of Rutgers University, led the team of
investigators that developed this novel nanotherapeutic system
for treating cancer. She and her colleagues set out to target a
signaling pathway that causes tumors to trigger new blood vessel
growth and to develop resistance to many anticancer drugs. To
shut down this pathway, the investigators developed an antisense
oligonucleotide that would bind to and inactivate messenger RNA
coding for a protein known as hypoxia-inducible factor-1α,
which, when present, activates the targeted pathway. To deliver
this antisense agent to tumor cells, the investigators created a
lipid-based nanoparticle, or liposome, that would stably
incorporate both the antisense agent and the anticancer drug
doxorubicin. The investigators also created two additional
liposomes as controls, each of which was loaded with only one of
the two therapeutic agents. Tests with both isolated tumor cells
and with animals bearing human tumors showed that administration
of the multifunctiona