Gold Nanoparticles as Carriers of MicroRNA Mimics for Cancer Immunotherapy and Muscular Diseases

Introduction: MicroRNAs are a group of non-coding RNAs involved in regulating multiple cell processes, where their dysregulation is associated with diseases and can be used as therapeutics. However, their use is limited due to their poor stability, biodistribution, and/or selective targeting [1]. Herein, we show that gold nanoparticles modified with microRNA mimics have great potential in cancer immunotherapy (IT) [2] against melanoma and as a therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) [3]. In the latter case, we show the potential of a newly developed aptamer to target muscle stem cells selectively.