ENHANCING MIRNA THERAPEUTICS USING LIGAND CONJUGATED AND CHEMICALLY MODIFIED TUMOR SUPPRESSIVE MIRNAS

miRNAs therapeutics have emerged as a potential cancer therapeutics due to their unique ability to target multiple genes, allowing a single miRNA to act as a multi-drug cocktail. However, toxicity associated with current delivery vehicles as well as the sensitivity of the miRNA to serum nucleases are critical hurdles that stand against their clinical utility. Ligand-targeted delivery approaches such as small molecules, aptamers, antibodies or glycoconjugates provide a promising strategy to achieve specific delivery of the therapeutic cargo to the intended targeted cells without any toxicity. We hypothesized that combining both ligand targeted approach along with modifying the miRNA would provide a perfect delivery system which does not only achieve specific delivery but also reduce the therapeutic dose. The data presented in this dissertation shows (i) that miR-34a delivered using a combination of targeting ligand (DUPA) and an endosomal escape agent (nigericin) enables selective delivery of miR-34a to prostate cancer cells, (ii) that the use of full chemical modification approach enhances miR-34a stability and activity both in vitro and in vivo. Overall, these results provide an advancement in the miRNA delivery field and will help the development of miRNA based therapeutics against cancer.