Abstract
The serious drawbacks of conventional pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
(PDAC) therapy like nonspecific toxicity and high resistance to chemo
and radiation therapy, prompted the development and application of
countless siRNA-based therapeutics. Significant technological success
has been achieved in this area; however, the major challenges to
siRNA-based therapeutics becoming a new paradigm in the pancreatic
cancer therapy stem from enzymatic digestion, off-target effects,
difficulty to enter cells, induction of innate immune responses, and
renal clearance. Recent advances in drug delivery systems hold great
promise for improving siRNA-based therapeutics and developing a new
class of drugs, nano-siRNA drugs. However, a number of fundamental
questions, regarding toxicity, immunostimulation, and poor knowledge of
nano-bio interactions, need to be addressed before clinical translation.
In this review, we provide recent achievements in designing and
development of various non-viral delivery vehicles for pancreatic cancer
therapy. More importantly, co-delivery of conventional anticancer drugs
with siRNA as a new revolutionary pancreatic cancer combinational
therapy is completely discussed.