A microfluidic method to synthesize transferrin-lipid nanoparticles loaded with siRNA LOR-1284 for therapy of acute myeloid leukemia

The siRNA LOR-1284 targets the R2 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase (RRM2) and has shown promise in cancer therapy. In this study, transferrin (Tf) conjugated lipid nanoparticles (Tf-NP-LOR-1284) were synthesized by microfluidic hydrodynamic focusing (MHF) and evaluated for the targeted delivery of LOR-1284 siRNA into acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. The in vitro study showed that Tf-NP-LOR-1284 can protect LOR-1284 from serum nuclease degradation. Selective uptake of Tf-NP-LOR-1284 was observed in MV4-11 cells. In addition, qRT-PCR and Western blot results revealed that Tf-NP-LOR-1284 was more effective than the free LOR-1284 in reducing the R2 mRNA and protein levels. The Tf-NP-LOR-1284 showed prolonged circulation time and increased AUC after i.v. administration relative to the free LOR-1284. Furthermore, Tf-NP-LOR-1284 facilitated increased accumulation at the tumor site along with the decreased R2 mRNA and protein expression in a murine xenograft model. These results suggest that Tf-conjugated NPs prepared by MHF provide a suitable platform for efficient and specific therapeutic delivery of LOR-1284 into AML cells.