Xiaoting Zhang, who serves as Assistant Professor at University of Cincinnati’s cancer and cell biology department, has received a U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Idea Award worth $587,000 to devise tissue-specific nanotherapeutics for human breast cancer treatment.
Zhang is working on developing a treatment procedure that concentrates indirectly on estrogen and its receptor when compared to existing drugs, which target and prevent estrogen function directly. According to Zhang’s preliminary investigations in animal cells and models, his innovative method effectively suppresses estrogen in breast tissue, while mildly disrupting the functions of the hormones in other regions of the body.
Zhang’s approach is founded on a recent revelation of a unique tissue-specific function of a transcriptional cofactor known as MED1 in controlling stem cell differentiation and mammary gland development. During the study, the researchers discovered that the reaction between MED1 and estrogen receptor plays a critical function in the mammary gland, Zhang said.
Zhang will develop strong RNA aptamers library utilizing a screening procedure known as systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). This library of RNA aptamers can be utilized to select the ideal candidates for disruption of the functions of estrogen receptors only in breast cancer. He then in collaboration with Peixuan Guo, a nanotechnology expert at University of Cincinnati, will utilize pRNA nanoparticles to exclusively supply highly targeted chains of RNA aptamers to breast cancer cells to prevent the growth of cancer. Zhang stated that the company has distinct target-oriented selection techniques and the advantage of Dr Guo’s innovative RNA nanodelivery solution.
Source: http://www.uc.edu