Therapeutic genome editing of triple-negative breast tumors using a noncationic and deformable nanolipogel

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which represents 12% of all breast cancers, is a devastating breast cancer subtype that occurs more frequently in women under 50 y of age, in African American women, and in individuals carrying a BRCA1 gene mutation. Because of the lack of therapeutic targets and limited treatment options, the prognosis for patients with TNBC remains the poorest of all patients with breast cancer. Here we report the synthesis and application of a novel CRISPR nanotherapeutic to effectively knock out Lipocalin 2 (Lcn2), a breast cancer-promoting gene, in TNBC tumors via in vivo genome editing, leading to a significant suppression of TNBC tumor growth. Our studies demonstrate that CRISPR genome editing is a promising targeted gene therapy approach for TNBC.