Özet:

Objective: RNAi is a powerful tool for controlling cellular processes in the gene silencing and in the analysis of molecular mechanisms for many diseases including cancer. VEGF signaling is a potential therapeutic target for siRNA delivery in breast cancer. Although siRNA can be potential therapeutic agent for various diseases, intracellular delivery of siRNA is one of the major hurdles to turn siRNA into therapeutically active molecules. To date, numerous transfection methods or delivery systems have been developed. Among them, chitosan is potential gene carrier due to its characteristics such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, non immunogenic and toxicity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the biodistribution and tumor localization of chitosan/ VEGF siRNA complexes in breast cancer model of rat. Method: In our study, we intravenously injected FITC labeled naked siRNA-VEGF (40 µg/rat) and chitosan/FITC labeled siRNAVEGF complexes (40 µg/rat) to breast tumor-bearing rats. Results: While the biodistribution of chitosan/siVEGF complexes to the brain and heart appeared almost similar to that observed for naked siVEGF, the accumulation was slightly lower in the spleen, liver, lungs, muscle and higher in the kidney. In the breast tumor tissue, chitosan/FITC-labeled VEGF siRNA complexes were localized in the tumor 15 min post-injection but naked FITCsiVEGF did not localize in tumor tissue. Conclusion: In this preliminary study, we revealed the promising potential of chitosan as VEGF siRNA delivery system for biodistribution. 

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