Conclusion and future
perspectives
Nano-siRNA drugs have recently been developed as a promising new class
of therapeutic agents to treat different types of cancer including
pancreatic cancer. RNAi molecules like siRNA are highly effective
therapies for cancer depending on their ability to specifically silence
cancer-related genes expression or to selectively regulate the pathways
involved in the development and progression of malignancy. The
development of MDR is the central problem in the pancreatic cancer
therapy approaches. As a potential new strategy against pancreatic
cancer, the combination of chemotherapy with nano-siRNA drugs represents
a revolutionary solution to overcome MDR. Despite these encouraging
advances, the toxicity and immune system stimulation, poor knowledge of
nano-bio interactions, and limitations considering designing,
manufacturing, clinical translation, and commercialization still
remained to be addressed. Moreover, to achieve the best synergistic
effect of the combination strategy, the encapsulated siRNA and
chemotherapy drugs require to be unloaded in cancer cells at two
distinct controlled timings. The drug release profiles for the siRNA and
anticancer drug will require to be programmed into the chemistry of the
delivery system material in such a way that the siRNA molecules will
first be released instantly upon internalization into a cell, and after
cancer cell sensitization, the anticancer drug will require to be
unloaded from the delivery system. Further innovative ideas will require
to be designed and optimized to synthesize an innovative in
vivo -stable, bio-safe, multi-drug delivery system to overcome the
limitations. In recent years, the advent of black phosphorus has proved
to be a promising approach for the delivery of gene therapeutics.
Hopefully, further studies will be performed to complement the results
of this revolutionary research in the near future (Tao et al., 2017).
In summary, nevertheless, the field of nano-siRNA drugs for pancreatic
cancer therapy has already come a long way. We believe that nano-siRNA
drugs will shift the paradigm of pancreatic cancer therapy and become a
reality in the near future.