Delivering functional nucleic acids to mammalian cells via bacterially-derived, intact minicells
AssigneeEnGeneIC Molecular Delivery Pty Ltd
InventorsHimanshu Brahmbhatt, Jennifer MacDiarmid
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Abstract
Intact bacterially derived minicells containing functional nucleic acids or plasmids encoding functional nucleic acids can reduce, in targeted mammalian cells, drug resistance, apoptosis resistance, and neoplasticity, respectively. Methodology that employs minicells to deliver functional nucleic acids, targeting the transcripts of proteins that contribute to drug resistance or apoptosis resistance, inter alia, can be combined with chemotherapy to increase the effectiveness of the chemotherapy.
Claims21
A composition comprising (a) a first intact, bacterially derived minicell that contains a functional nucleic acid molecule or a plasmid comprising a segment that encodes a functional nucleic acid molecule, (b) a second intact, bacterially derived minicell that is separate from said first minicell and that contains a cancer chemotherapy agent, and (c) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier for each of (a) and (b), wherein said functional nucleic acid molecule targets a transcript encoding a protein that contributes to resistance to said cancer chemotherapy agent in tumor cells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.