Nanoparticles Codelivering mRNA and SiRNA for Simultaneous Restoration and Silencing of Gene/Protein Expression In Vitro and In Vivo

RNA-based agents (siRNA, miRNA, and mRNA) can selectively manipulate gene expression/proteins and are set to revolutionize a variety of disease treatments. Nanoparticle (NP) platforms have been developed to deliver functional mRNA or siRNA inside cells to overcome their inherent limitations. Recent studies have focused on siRNA to knock down proteins causing drug resistance or mRNA technology to introduce tumor suppressors. However, cancer needs multitargeted approaches to selectively manipulate multiple gene expressions/proteins. In this proof-of-concept study, we developed NPs containing Luc-mRNA and siRNA-GFP as model agents ((M+S)-NPs) and showed that NPs can simultaneously deliver functional mRNA and siRNA and impact the expression of two genes/proteins in vitro. Additionally, after in vivo administration, (M+S)-NPs successfully knocked down GFP while introducing luciferase into a TNBC mouse model, indicating that our NPs have the potential to develop RNA-based anticancer therapeutics. These studies pave the way to develop RNA-based, multitargeted approaches for complex diseases like cancer.