Projects
Anti-angiogenic miRNA based therapeutics
“Conventional cancer treatment such as surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are far from sufficient, therefore, new strategies of cancer treatment are needed more than ever,” says Roel Schaapveld, Chief Executive Officer, InteRNA. There is a large body of evidence indicating that tumor growth and metastasis formation are dependent on the formation of new blood vessels. Furthermore, angiogenesis is an early event in the development of tumors, being already switched on in pre-cancerous events and long before visible or clinically relevant tumor mass is present. Schaapveld: “These two features make angiogenesis an ideal target for the development of novel anti-cancer strategies.”
The recent discovery that non-coding RNAs, called microRNAs (miRNAs), play a critical role in gene regulation provides new opportunities to discover RNAs that can control angiogenesis. The major aim of this project is to establish a technology platform for the development of (anti-cancer) therapeutics based on angiostatic miRNAs. miRNA is utilized as a therapeutic modality and advanced nanoparticle delivery systems accomplish intracellular delivery of nucleic acid agents. These will be combined with the identification of surface receptor targets on tumor blood vessels to allow for therapeutic intervention. Eventually, this will result in the development of anti-angiogenic miRNA-based therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer.
Partners: InteRNA Technologies, Utrecht University, and VU University Medical Center
Full project title: Development of anti-angiogenic miRNA based therapeutics