siRNA-Conjugated Nanoparticles to Treat Ovarian Cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth-most lethal cancer among women due to a lack of early detection and late-stage treatment options, and it is responsible for more than 14,000 deaths each year in the United States. Recently, there have been advances in RNA interference therapy, specifically with small interfering RNA (siRNA), to reduce tumor burden for ovarian cancer via gene down-regulation. However, delivery of siRNA poses its own challenges, as siRNA is unstable in circulation, is unable to be effectively internalized by cells, and may cause toxicity in off-target sites.

mTORC2 contributes to the metabolic reprogramming in EGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitor resistant cells in non-small cell lung cancer.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with activating EGFR mutations are often successfully treated with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) such as erlotinib; however, treatment resistance inevitably occurs. Given tumor metabolism of glucose and therapeutic response are intimately linked, we explored the metabolic differences between isogenic erlotinib-sensitive and -resistant NSCLC cell lines. We discovered that the growth of erlotinib-resistant cells is more sensitive to glucose deprivation.