Cristina Quintavalle
@ieos.cnr.it
IEOS-CNR
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Alessandra Affinito, Cristina Quintavalle, Rosario Vincenzo Chianese, Giuseppina Roscigno, Danilo Fiore, Valeria D’Argenio, Guglielmo Thomas, Alessia Savarese, Francesco Ingenito, Lorenza Cocca,et al.
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AbstractMultiple oncogenic alterations contribute to breast cancer development. Metabolic reprogramming, deeply contributing to tumor microenvironment (TME) education, is now widely recognized as a hallmark of cancer. The reverse Warburg effect induces cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to produce and secrete L-lactate, enhancing malignant characteristics such as neoangiogenesis, metastatic dissemination, and treatment resistance. Monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) 4 is involved in lactate efflux from CAFs into stromal and epithelial cells. Here, we first assess the expression of miR-425-5p and its target MCT4 in breast cancer CAFs and normal fibroblasts. We analyzed the metabolic changes induced by miR-425-5p in CAFs and its role in the education of breast cancer epithelial cells. We show that miR-425-5p-induced MCT4 knockdown decreased lactate extrusion from CAFs and its availability in the TME. miR-425-5p overexpression induced profound metabolic transformation in CAFs, ultimately influencing breast cancer metabolism. Furthermore, miR-425-5p impaired the capacity of CAFs to sustain vessel formation and breast cancer cell migration, viability, and proliferation. These findings emphasize the key role of miR-425-5p in breast cancer metabolism and aggressiveness, and its possible importance for breast cancer therapy and monitoring.
M. Garofalo, C. Quintavalle, G. Di Leva, C. Zanca, G. Romano, C. Taccioli, C. G. Liu, C. M. Croce, and G. Condorelli
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Carlo Briguori, Cristina Quintavalle, Enrica Mariano, Alessandro D’Agostino, Mario Scarpelli, Amelia Focaccio, Giuseppe Biondi Zoccai, Salvatore Evola, Giovanni Esposito, Giuseppe Massimo Sangiorgi,et al.
Elsevier BV
Silvia Nuzzo, Margherita Iaboni, Maria Luigia Ibba, Anna Rienzo, Domenica Musumeci, Monica Franzese, Giuseppina Roscigno, Alessandra Affinito, Gianluca Petrillo, Cristina Quintavalle,et al.
Frontiers Media SA
Hypoxia plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis and drug resistance, and it is recognised as a major factor affecting patient clinical outcome. Therefore, the detection of hypoxic areas within the tumour micro-environment represents a useful way to monitor tumour growth and patients’ responses to treatments, properly guiding the choice of the most suitable therapy. To date, non-invasive hypoxia imaging probes have been identified, but their applicability in vivo is strongly limited due to an inadequate resistance to the low oxygen concentration and the acidic pH of the tumour micro-environment. In this regard, nucleic acid aptamers represent very powerful tools thanks to their peculiar features, including high stability to harsh conditions and a small size, resulting in easy and efficient tumour penetration. Here, we describe a modified cell-SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment) approach that allows the isolation of specific RNA aptamers for the detection of the hypoxic phenotype in breast cancer (BC) cells. We demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method in isolating highly stable aptamers with an improved and specific binding to hypoxic cells. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a cell-SELEX approach properly designed and modified to select RNA aptamers against hypoxia-related epitopes expressed on tumour cell surfaces. The selected aptamers may provide new effective tools for targeting hypoxic areas within the tumour with great clinical potential.
Iolanda Scognamiglio, Lorenza Cocca, Ilaria Puoti, Francesco Palma, Francesco Ingenito, Cristina Quintavalle, Alessandra Affinito, Giuseppina Roscigno, Silvia Nuzzo, Rosario Vincenzo Chianese,et al.
Elsevier BV
Iolanda Scognamiglio, Lorenza Cocca, Ilaria Puoti, Francesco Palma, Francesco Ingenito, Cristina Quintavalle, Alessandra Affinito, Giuseppina Roscigno, Silvia Nuzzo, Rosario Vincenzo Chianese,et al.
Elsevier BV
Cristina Quintavalle, Nathalie Meyer‐Schaller, Stephanie Roessler, Diego Calabrese, Romina Marone, Tobias Riedl, Silvia Picco‐Rey, Orestis A. Panagiotou, Sarp Uzun, Salvatore Piscuoglio,et al.
Wiley
Chronic liver inflammation causes continuous liver damage with progressive liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, which may eventually lead to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Whereas the 10-year incidence for HCC in patients with cirrhosis is approximately 20%, many of these patients remain tumor free for their entire lives. Clarifying the mechanisms that define the various outcomes of chronic liver inflammation is a key aspect in HCC research. In addition to a wide variety of contributing factors, microRNAs (miRNAs) have also been shown to be engaged in promoting liver cancer. Therefore, we wanted to characterize miRNAs that are involved in the development of HCC, and we designed a longitudinal study with formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded liver biopsy samples from several pathology institutes from Switzerland. We examined the miRNA expression by nCounterNanostring technology in matched nontumoral liver tissue from patients developing HCC (n = 23) before and after HCC formation in the same patient. Patients with cirrhosis (n = 26) remaining tumor free within a similar time frame served as a control cohort. Comparison of the two cohorts revealed that liver tissue from patients developing HCC displayed a down-regulation of miR-579-3p as an early step in HCC development, which was further confirmed in a validation cohort. Correlation with messenger RNA expression profiles further revealed that miR-579-3p directly attenuated phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha (PIK3CA) expression and consequently protein kinase B (AKT) and phosphorylated AKT. In vitro experiments and the use of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 technology confirmed that miR-579-3p controlled cell proliferation and cell migration of liver cancer cell lines. Conclusion: Liver tissues from patients developing HCC revealed changes in miRNA expression. miR-579-3p was identified as a novel tumor suppressor regulating phosphoinositide 3-kinase-AKT signaling at the early stages of HCC development.
Katia Pane, Cristina Quintavalle, Silvia Nuzzo, Francesco Ingenito, Giuseppina Roscigno, Alessandra Affinito, Iolanda Scognamiglio, Birlipta Pattanayak, Enrico Gallo, Antonella Accardo,et al.
MDPI AG
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) shuttle proteins, RNA, DNA, and lipids crucial for cell-to-cell communication. Recent findings have highlighted that EVs, by virtue of their cargo, may also contribute to breast cancer (BC) growth and metastatic dissemination. Indeed, EVs are gaining great interest as non-invasive cancer biomarkers. However, little is known about the biological and physical properties of EVs from malignant BC lesions, and even less is understood about EVs from non-malignant lesions, such as breast fibroadenoma (FAD), which are clinically managed using conservative approaches. Thus, for this pilot study, we attempted to purify and explore the proteomic profiles of EVs from benign breast lesions, HER2+ BCs, triple–negative BCs (TNBCs), and continuous BC cell lines (i.e., BT-549, MCF–10A, and MDA-MB-231), combining experimental and semi-quantitative approaches. Of note, proteome-wide analyses showed 49 common proteins across EVs harvested from FAD, HER2+ BCs, TNBCs, and model BC lines. This is the first feasibility study evaluating the physicochemical composition and proteome of EVs from benign breast cells and primary and immortalized BC cells. Our preliminary results hold promise for possible implications in precision medicine for BC.
Marco De Martino, Simona Pellecchia, Francesco Esposito, Nadia Tosti, Cristina Quintavalle, Serenella Eppenberger-Castori, Vincenza Carafa, Alberto Righi, Paolo Chieffi, Alfredo Fusco,et al.
Informa UK Limited
Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are neoplasms derived from neuroendocrine cells. One of their main features is to often remain asymptomatic and clinically undetectable. High Mobility Group A (HMGA) proteins belong to a family of non-histone chromatinic proteins able to modulate gene expression through the interaction with DNA and transcription factors. They are overexpressed in most of the human malignancies, playing a critical role in carcinogenesis. However, their expression levels and their role in neuroendocrine carcinogenesis has not been exhaustively evaluated until now. Therefore, in this study, we have addressed the validity of using the expression of HMGA1 as a diagnostic marker and have investigated its role in NET carcinogenesis. The expression of HMGA1 has been evaluated by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, using NET tissue microarrays, in a cohort of gastroenteropancreatic (GEP)-NET samples. The expression levels of HMGA1 have been then correlated with the main clinical features of NET samples. Finally, the contribution of HMGA1 overexpression to NET development has been addressed as far as the modulation of proliferation and migration abilities of NET cells is concerned. Here, we report that HMGA1 is overexpressed in GEP-NET samples, at both mRNA and protein levels, and that the silencing of HMGA1 protein expression interferes with the ability of NET cells to proliferate and migrate through the downregulation of Cyclin E, Cyclin B1 and EZH2. These results propose the HMGA proteins as new diagnostic and prognostic markers.
Elena Cesaro, Arianna Pastore, Alessia Polverino, Lorenzo Manna, Giuseppina Divisato, Cristina Quintavalle, Maddalena Di Sanzo, Maria Concetta Faniello, Michela Grosso, and Paola Costanzo
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Abstract The zinc finger protein ZNF224 plays a dual role in cancer, operating as both tumour suppressor and oncogenic factor depending on cellular and molecular partners. In this research we investigated the role of ZNF224 in melanoma, a highly invasive and metastatic cancer, and provided evidence for the involvement of ZNF224 in the TGF-β signalling as a mediator of the TGF-β pro-oncogenic function. Our results showed that ZNF224, whose expression increased in melanoma cell lines after TGF-β stimulation, potentiated the activation induced by TGF-β on its target genes involved in epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Accordingly, overexpression of ZNF224 enhanced the tumourigenic properties of melanoma cells, promoting cell proliferation and invasiveness, whereas ZNF224 knockdown had the opposite effect. Moreover, ZNF224 positively modulates the expression of TGF-β itself and its type 1 and 2 receptors (TβR1 and TβR2), thus highlighting a possible mechanism by which ZNF224 could enhance the endogenous TGFβ/Smad signalling. Our findings unveil a positive regulatory loop between TGF-β and ZNF224 to promote EMT, consequently increasing the tumour metastatic potential.
Pasquale Russomanno, Giulia Assoni, Jussara Amato, Vincenzo Maria D’Amore, Riccardo Scaglia, Diego Brancaccio, Martina Pedrini, Giovanna Polcaro, Valeria La Pietra, Paolo Orlando,et al.
American Chemical Society (ACS)
The inhibition of the PD-1/PD-L1 axis by monoclonal antibodies has achieved remarkable success in treating a growing number of cancers. However, a novel class of small organic molecules, with BMS-202 (1) as the lead, is emerging as direct PD-L1 inhibitors. Herein, we report a series of 2,4,6-tri- and 2,4-disubstituted 1,3,5-triazines, which were synthesized and assayed for their PD-L1 binding by NMR and homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence. Among them, compound 10 demonstrated to strongly bind with the PD-L1 protein and challenged it in a co-culture of PD-L1 expressing cancer cells (PC9 and HCC827 cells) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells enhanced antitumor immune activity of the latter. Compound 10 significantly increased interferon γ release and apoptotic induction of cancer cells, with low cytotoxicity in healthy cells when compared to 1, thus paving the way for subsequent preclinical optimization and medical applications.
Dominik Witzigmann, Philip Grossen, Cristina Quintavalle, Manuela Lanzafame, Susanne H. Schenk, Xue-Ting Tran, Bernhard Englinger, Patrick Hauswirth, David Grünig, Sushilla van Schoonhoven,et al.
Elsevier BV
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is related to increasing incidence rates and poor clinical outcomes due to lack of efficient treatment options and emerging resistance mechanisms. The aim of the present study is to exploit a non-viral gene therapy enabling the expression of the parvovirus-derived oncotoxic protein NS1 in HCC. This anticancer protein interacts with different cellular kinases mediating a multimodal host-cell death. Lipoplexes (LPX) designed to deliver a DNA expression plasmid encoding NS1 are characterized using a comprehensive set of in vitro assays. The mechanisms of cell death induction are assessed and phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1 (PDK1) is identified as a potential predictive biomarker for a NS1-LPX-based gene therapy. In an HCC xenograft mouse model, NS1-LPX therapeutic approach results in a significant reduction in tumor growth and extended survival. Data provide convincing evidence for future studies using a targeted NS1 gene therapy for PDK1 overexpressing HCC.
Giuseppina Roscigno, Cristina Quintavalle, Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai, Francesca De Micco, Giacomo Frati, Alessandra Affinito, Silvia Nuzzo, Gerolama Condorelli, and Carlo Briguori
Elsevier BV
BACKGROUND
Administration of iodinated contrast medium (CM) during invasive cardiovascular procedures may be associated with impairment of kidney function.
OBJECTIVES
Urinary dickkopf-3 (DKK3), a stress-induced renal tubular epithelium-derived glycoprotein, has been identified as a biomarker predicting both acute kidney injury (AKI) and persistent kidney dysfunction.
METHODS
Urinary DKK3/creatinine ratio (uDKK3/uCr), urine and serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL, sNGAL) and serum cystatin C (sCyC) were assessed in 458 patients with chronic kidney disease scheduled for invasive cardiovascular procedures requiring CM administration with universal adoption of nephroprotective interventions. Contrast-associated AKI (CA-AKI) was defined as serum creatinine increase ≥0.3 mg/dl at 48 h after CM administration. Persistent kidney dysfunction was defined as persistent estimated glomerular filtration rate reduction ≥25% at 1 month compared with baseline.
RESULTS
CA-AKI occurred in 64 or the 458 patients (14%), and baseline uDKK3/uCr ≥491 pg/mg was the best threshold for its prediction. Net reclassification improvement (NRI) was significantly increased by adding baseline uDKK3/uCr to the Mehran, Gurm, and National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) scores (all p < 0.05), and the same applied to integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) when adding uDKK3/uCr to the Gurm and NCDR scores (p < 0.001). Persistent kidney dysfunction occurred in 57 of the 458 patients (12%) and baseline uDKK3/uCr ≥322 pg/mg appeared as the best threshold for its prediction. Adding baseline uDKK3/uCr to the Mehran, Gurm, and NCDR scores significantly increased IDI and NRI (all p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
Baseline uDKK3/uCr seems to be a reliable marker for improving the identification of patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing invasive coronary and peripheral procedures at risk for AKI and persistent kidney dysfunction.
Francesco Palma, Alessandra Affinito, Silvia Nuzzo, Giuseppina Roscigno, Iolanda Scognamiglio, Francesco Ingenito, Lola Martinez, Monica Franzese, Mario Zanfardino, Andrea Soricelli,et al.
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Abstract Lung cancer is still the leading cause of death by cancer worldwide despite advances both in its detection and therapy. Multiple oncogenic driver alterations have been discovered, opening the prospective for new potential therapeutic targets. Among them, KRAS mutations represent the most frequent oncogene aberrations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with a negative prognostic impact, but effective therapies targeting KRAS are not well characterized yet. Here, we demonstrate that the microRNA miR-34c-3p is a positive prognostic factor in KRAS-mutated NSCLC patients. Firstly, looking at the TGCA dataset, we found that high miR-34c-3p expression correlated with longer survival of KRAS-mutated NSCLC patients. In vitro assays on immortalized and patient-derived primary NSCLC cells revealed that miR-34c-3p overexpression increased apoptosis and lowered proliferation rate in KRASmut cells. Computational analysis and in vitro assays identified CDK1, one of the most promising lethal targets for KRAS-mutant cancer, as a target of miR-34c-3p. Moreover, the combination of CDK1 inhibition (mediated by RO3306) and miR-34c-3p overexpression resulted in an additive effect on the viability of KRASmut-expressing cells. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that miR-34c-3p is a novel biomarker that may allow tailored treatment for KRAS-mutated NSCLC patients.
Carla Lucia Esposito, Cristina Quintavalle, Francesco Ingenito, Deborah Rotoli, Giuseppina Roscigno, Silvia Nuzzo, Renato Thomas, Silvia Catuogno, Vittorio de Franciscis, and Gerolama Condorelli
Elsevier BV
M. Garofalo, C. Quintavalle, G. Di Leva, C. Zanca, G. Romano, C. Taccioli, C. G. Liu, C. M. Croce, and G. Condorelli
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-020-01608-1.
Simona Pellecchia, Marco De Martino, Francesco Esposito, Cristina Quintavalle, Alfredo Fusco, and Pierlorenzo Pallante
Informa UK Limited
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive and lethal neoplasia of the central nervous system in adults. Based on the molecular signature genes, GBM has been classified in proneural, neural, mesenchymal and classical subtypes. The Metallophosphoesterase-domain-containing protein 2 (MPPED2) gene encodes a metallophosphodiesterase protein highly conserved throughout the evolution. MPPED2 downregulation, likely due to its promoter hypermethylation, has been found in several malignant neoplasias and correlated with a poor prognosis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression and the functional role of MPPED2 in GBM. TCGA and Gravendeel databases were employed to explore the MPPED2 expression levels in this type of tumor. We have found that MPPED2 expression is downregulated in GBM patients, showing a positive correlation with survival. Moreover, TCGA and Gravendeel data also revealed that MPPED2 expression negatively correlates with the most aggressive mesenchymal subtype. Additionally, the restoration of MPPED2 expression in U251 and GLI36 GBM cell lines decreases cell growth, migration and enhanced the sensitivity to the temozolomide, inducing apoptotic cell death, of GBM cells. These findings suggest that the restoration of MPPED2 function can be taken into consideration for an innovative GBM therapy.
Mariacarla Andreozzi, Cristina Quintavalle, David Benz, Luca Quagliata, Matthias Matter, Diego Calabrese, Nadia Tosti, Christian Ruiz, Francesca Trapani, Luigi Tornillo,et al.
Elsevier BV
ding: The study was supported by grants from Oncosuisse (KLS-3639-02-2015) and the Swiss esearch foundation (KFS-3302-08-2013). Mariacarla Andreozzi a,⇑,1; Cristina Quintavalle ; David Benz ; Luca Quagliata ; Matthias Matter ; Diego Calabrese ; Nadia Tosti ; Christian Ruiz ; Francesca Trapani ; Luigi Tornillo ; Alfredo Fusco ; Markus H. Heim ; Charlotte K.Y. Ng ; Pierlorenzo Pallante ; Luigi M. Terracciano a,⇑; Salvatore Piscuoglio a,⇑
Alessandra Affinito, Cristina Quintavalle, Carla Lucia Esposito, Giuseppina Roscigno, Catello Giordano, Silvia Nuzzo, Lucia Ricci-Vitiani, Iolanda Scognamiglio, Zoran Minic, Roberto Pallini,et al.
Elsevier BV
Despite the benefits associated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy for glioblastoma (GBM) treatment, most patients experience a relapse following initial therapy. Recurrent or progressive GBM usually does not respond anymore to standard therapy, and this is associated with poor patient outcome. GBM stem cells (GSCs) are a subset of cells resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy and play a role in tumor recurrence. The targeting of GSCs and the identification of novel markers are crucial issues in the development of innovative strategies for GBM eradication. By differential cell SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment), we have recently described two RNA aptamers, that is, the 40L sequence and its truncated form A40s, able to bind the cell surface of human GSCs. Both aptamers were selective for stem-like growing GBM cells and are rapidly internalized into target cells. In this study, we demonstrate that their binding to cells is mediated by direct recognition of the ephrin type-A receptor 2 (EphA2). Functionally, the two aptamers were able to inhibit cell growth, stemness, and migration of GSCs. Furthermore, A40s was able to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and was stable in serum in in vitro experiments. These results suggest that 40L and A40s represent innovative potential therapeutic tools for GBM.
Giuseppina Roscigno, Assunta Cirella, Alessandra Affinito, Cristina Quintavalle, Iolanda Scognamiglio, Francesco Palma, Francesco Ingenito, Silvia Nuzzo, Francesca De Micco, Antonio Cuccuru,et al.
MDPI AG
Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy in females in terms of both incidence and mortality. Underlying the high mortality rate is the presence of cancer stem cells, which divide indefinitely and are resistant to conventional chemotherapies, so causing tumor relapse. In the present study, we identify miR-216a-5p as a downregulated microRNA in breast cancer stem cells vs. the differentiated counterpart. We demonstrate that overexpression of miR-216a-5p impairs stemness markers, mammosphere formation, ALDH activity, and the level of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which plays a significant role in breast cancer progression and metastasis by leading to the release of pro-inflammatory molecules, such as interleukin 6 (IL-6). Indeed, miR-216a regulates the crosstalk between cancer cells and the cells of the microenvironment, in particular cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), through regulation of the TLR4/IL6 pathway. Thus, miR-216a has an important role in the regulation of stem phenotype, decreasing stem-like properties and affecting the cross-talk between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment.
Alessandra Affinito, Cristina Quintavalle, Carla Lucia Esposito, Giuseppina Roscigno, Claudia Vilardo, Silvia Nuzzo, Lucia Ricci-Vitiani, Gabriele De Luca, Roberto Pallini, Anna S. Kichkailo,et al.
Elsevier BV
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumor in adults. Despite progress in surgical and medical neuro-oncology, prognosis for GBM patients remains dismal, with a median survival of only 14–15 months. The modest benefit of conventional therapies is due to the presence of GBM stem cells (GSCs) that cause tumor relapse and chemoresistance and, therefore, that play a key role in GBM aggressiveness and recurrence. So far, strategies to identify and target GSCs have been unsuccessful. Thus, the development of an approach for GSC detection and targeting would be fundamental for improving the survival of GBM patients. Here, using the cell-systematic evolution of ligand by exponential (SELEX) methodology on human primary GSCs, we generated and characterized RNA aptamers that selectively bind GSCs versus undifferentiated GBM cells. We found that the shortened version of the aptamer 40L, which we have called A40s, costained with CD133-labeled cells in human GBM tissue, suggestive of an ability to specifically recognize GSCs in fixed human tissues. Of note, both 40L and A40s were rapidly internalized by cells, allowing for the delivery of the microRNA miR-34c and the anti-microRNA anti-miR-10b, demonstrating that these aptamers can serve as selective vehicles for therapeutics. In conclusion, the aptamers 40L and A40s can selectively target GSCs. Given the crucial role of GSCs in GBM recurrence and therapy resistance, these aptamers represent innovative drug delivery candidates with a great potential in the treatment of GBM.
Carolin Lackner, Luca Quagliata, William Cross, Sebastian Ribi, Karl Heinimann, Viola Paradiso, Cristina Quintavalle, Monika Kovacova, Daniel Baumhoer, Salvatore Piscuoglio,et al.
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
In the recent years, new molecular methods have been proposed to discriminate multicentric hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) from intrahepatic metastases. Some of these methods utilize sequencing data to assess similarities between cancer genomes, whilst other achieved the same results with transcriptome and methylome data. Here, we attempt to classify two HCC patients with multi-centric disease using the recall-rates of somatic mutations but find that difficult because their tumors share some chromosome-scale copy-number alterations (CNAs) but little-to-no single-nucleotide variants. To resolve the apparent conundrum, we apply a phasing strategy to test if those shared CNAs are identical by descent. Our findings suggest that the conflicting alterations occur on different homologous chromosomes, which argues for multi-centric origin of respective HCCs.
Silvia Nuzzo, Giuseppina Roscigno, Alessandra Affinito, Francesco Ingenito, Cristina Quintavalle, and Gerolama Condorelli
MDPI AG
Due to the progress made in the area of precision and personalized medicine in the field of cancer therapy, strategies to selectively and specifically identify target molecules causative of the diseases are urgently needed. Efforts are being made by a number of different laboratories, companies, and researchers to develop therapeutic molecules that selectively recognize the tissues and the cells of interest, exhibit few or no off-target and side effects, are non-immunogenic, and have a strong action. Aptamers, artificially selected single-stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides, are promising molecules satisfying many of the requirements needed for diagnosis and precision medicine. Aptamers can also couple to their native mechanism of action the delivery of additional molecules (oligonucleotides, siRNAs, miRNAs) to target cells. In this review, we summarize recent progress in the aptamer-mediated strategy for the specific delivery of therapeutic oligonucleotides.
Francesco Ingenito, Giuseppina Roscigno, Alessandra Affinito, Silvia Nuzzo, Iolanda Scognamiglio, Cristina Quintavalle, and Gerolama Condorelli
MDPI AG
Exosomes are extracellular vesicles released into biological fluids where they act as carriers of various molecules, including proteins, lipids, and RNAs, between cells, modulating or perturbing specific physiological processes. Recently, it has been suggested that tumoral cells release excessive amounts of exosomes that, through their cargo, promote tumor progression, stimulating growth, angiogenesis, metastasis, insensitivity to chemotherapy, and immune evasion. Increasing evidence highlights exosomal microRNAs (exo-miRNAs) as important players in tumorigenesis. MicroRNA (miRNA) are a class of small non-coding RNA able to regulate gene expression, targeting multiple mRNAs and inducing translational repression and/or mRNA degradation. Exo-miRNAs are highly stable and easily detectable in biological fluids, and for these reasons, miRNAs are potential cancer biomarkers useful diagnostically and prognostically. Furthermore, since exosomes are natural delivery systems between cells, they can be appropriately modified to carry therapeutic miRNAs to specific recipient cells. Here we summarize the main functions of exo-miRNAs and their possible role for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.