Radiolabeled RNA Nanoparticles for Highly Specific Targeting and Efficient Tumor Accumulation with Favorable Biodistribution

Therapeutic efficiency and toxicity are two of the three critical factors in molecular therapy and pharmaceutical drug development. Specific tumor targeting and rapid renal excretion contribute to improving efficiency and reducing toxicity. We recently found that RNA nanoparticles display rubber-like properties, enabling them to deliver therapeutics to cancer with high efficiency. Off-target RNA nanoparticles were rapidly cleared by renal excretion, resulting in nontoxicity. However, previous biodistribution studies relied mainly on fluorescent markers, which can cause interference from fluorophore quenching and autofluorescence. Thus, the quantification of biodistribution requires further scrutiny. In this study, radionuclide [H] markers were used for quantitative pharmacokinetic (PK) studies to elucidate the favorable PK profile of RNA nanoparticles. Approximately 5% of [H]-RNA nanoparticles accumulated in tumors, in contrast to the 0.7% tumor accumulation reported in the literature for other kinds of nanoparticles. The amount of [H]-RNA nanoparticles accumulated in tumors was higher than that in the liver, heart, lung, spleen, and brain throughout the entire process after IV injection. [H]-RNA nanoparticles rapidly reached the tumor vasculature within 30 min and remained in tumors for more than 2 days. Nontargeting [H]-RNA nanoparticles were found in the urine 30 min after IV injection without degradation and processing, and more than 55% of the IV-injected radiolabeled RNA nanoparticles were cleared from the body within 12 h, while the other 45% includes the radiative counts that cannot be recovered due to whole-body distribution and blood dilution after intravenous injection. The high specificity of tumor targeting, fast renal excretion, and low organ accumulation illustrate the high therapeutic potential of RNA nanoparticles in cancer treatment as efficient cancer-targeting carriers with low toxicity and side effects.