Tissue Specific Promoters in Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal carcinoma is the third most prevalent cancer in the world. In the most advanced stages, the use of chemotherapy induces a poor response and is usually accompanied by other tissue damage. Significant progress based on suicide gene therapy has demonstrated that it may potentiate the classical cytotoxic effects in colorectal cancer. The inconvenience still rests with the targeting and the specificity efficiency. The main target of gene therapy is to achieve an effective vehicle to hand over therapeutic genes safely into specific cells. One possibility is the use of tumor-specific promoters overexpressed in cancers. They could induce a specific expression of therapeutic genes in a given tumor, increasing their localized activity. Several promoters have been assayed into direct suicide genes to cancer cells. This review discusses the current status of specific tumor-promoters and their great potential in colorectal carcinoma treatment.This research was funded by FEDER, Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (I+D+I), and Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS), through projects PI11/01862 and PI11/0257

Synthetic Circular miR-21 Sponge as Tool for Lung Cancer Treatment

This work was funded by the CTS-107 Group. This work was also partially supported by a grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (project PI19/01478) (FEDER).Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world and several miRNAs are associated with it. MiRNA sponges are presented as tools to inhibit miRNAs. We designed a system to capture miRNAs based on circular RNAs (circRNA). To demonstrate its usefulness, we chose miR-21, which is upregulated and implicated in lung cancer. We constructed a miR-21 sponge and inserted it into a vector that facilitates circular RNA production (Circ-21) to study its effect on growth, colony formation, and migration in lung cancer cell lines and multicellular tumor spheroids (MTS). Circ-21 induced a significant and time-dependent decrease in the growth of A549 and LL2 cells, but not in L132 cells. Furthermore, A549 and LL2 cells transfected with Circ-21 showed a lower number of colonies and migration than L132. Similar findings were seen in A549 and LL2 Circ-21 MTS, which showed a significant decrease in volume growth, but not in L132 Circ-21 MTS. Based on this, the miR-21 circular sponge may suppress the processes of tumorigenesis and progression. Therefore, our system based on circular sponges seems to be effective, as a tool for the capture of other miRNAs.Instituto de Salud Carlos III European Commission PI19/01478CTS-10

Gen E para el tratamiento antitumoral

Número de publicación: ES2343929 B2. Número de solicitud: 200801167.Gen E para el tratamiento antitumoral. Uso del gen E del bacteriófago ·X174, de su secuencia de aminoácidos y de composiciones farmacéuticas que lo contengan, que introducido y expresado en las células derivadas de tumores malignos, y especialmente en melanoma, es capaz de inducirles lesiones que las llevan a la muerte celular.Universidad de Granad

Polymer nanoparticles comprising poly (butyl cyanoacrylate) or poly(ε-caprolactone) for the use thereof in therapy

Número de publicación: ES2541480 B1. Número de solicitud: 201301190.Nanopartículas poliméricas que comprenden poli (butilcianoacrilato) o poli (-caprolactona) para su uso en terapia. La presente invención se refiere a nanopartículas de liberación prolongada de principios activos, el uso de dichas nanopartículas en terapia, preferiblemente para el tratamiento antitumoral, y al método de síntesis de dichas nanopartículas.Universidad de Granad

Development and use of polymer nanoparticles comprising poly(epsilon-caprolactone) and doxorubicin

Número de publicación: ES2386712 B1. Número de solicitud: 201130122.La presente invención se refiere a nanopartículas poliméricas con un tamaño medio inferior a 200 nm, que comprende uno o más polímeros biodegradables, uno o más principios activos y al menos un tensoactivo, donde al menos un polímero biodegradable es poli(ε-caprolactona) y donde al menos un principio activo es doxorrubicina, y al uso de dichas nanopartículas para la preparación de medicamentos para el tratamiento de cáncer, preferiblemente cáncer de mama.The invention relates to polymer nanoparticles having an average size of less than 200 nm, comprising one or more biodegradable polymers, one or more active principles and at least one surfactant, in which at least one biodegradable polymer is poly(ε-caprolactone) and at least one active principle is doxorubicin. The invention also relates to the use of said nanoparticles for the preparation of drugs for the treatment of cancer, preferably breast cancer.Servicio Andaluz de SaludUniversidad de Granad