(6ae) Multimodal Nanomedicines for Solid Tumors: Rational Drug Combinations, Targeted Cancer Therapies, Photo-Activated Drugs, and Synthetic Lethal RNA Interference

Nanoscale drug delivery is a power full tool for the treatment of solid tumors. Although a range of approaches have been described over the past several years, the vast majority seek to improve cytotoxic chemotherapies that have been in use for decades. Nanoscale delivery strategies integrating rational drug combinations, synthetic lethal RNA interference, stimuli-responsive drugs, or so-called molecularly targeted cancer therapeutics are and remain underexplored. Here, we present work from our laboratory describing the development of a range of such nanoscale platforms for drug delivery to solid tumors. These include: (i) self-assembled peptide co-polymer nanoparticles for synthetic lethal RNA interference of DNA damage response in ovarian and lung cancers, (ii) multivalent anti-androgen and anti-estrogen gold nanoparticles for the treatment of hormone-refractory breast and prostate cancers, (iii) photo-responsive nanoparticles that deliver drugs or achieve photothermal ablation in response to laser exposure, (iv) nanoscale delivery platforms targeting cancer stem cells, the hypoxic tumor microenvironment, or the tumor stroma, and (iv) Layer-by-Layer (LbL) nanoparticles for horizontal signal blockade in breast carcinoma.