REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1657040
This article is part of the Research TopicPrecision Medicine and Targeted Therapies in Gastrointestinal and Genitourinary Solid TumorsView all 15 articles
Gene expression silencing therapy in tumors, focus on gastrointestinal and genitourinary tumors
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institut Bergonie, Bordeaux, France
- 2Universite Sorbonne Paris Nord, Villetaneuse, France
- 3Hopital Avicenne, Bobigny, France
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Precision oncology has seen significant progress with oligonucleotide-based therapies, which provide a novel approach to gene expression silencing. These therapies, including antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and microRNAs (miRNAs), target specific genetic sequences with high precision. They offer promising solutions for cancers resistant to conventional treatments due to their ability to modulate previously "undruggable" targets and their reduced toxicity. However, challenges such as susceptibility to degradation, poor cellular uptake, and off-target effects have hindered their clinical application. Advances in chemical modifications and delivery systems, like lipid nanoparticles and GalNAc conjugates, have improved the stability and efficacy of these therapies. This review discusses the structural features, mechanisms of action, and clinical applications of ASOs, siRNAs, and miRNAs, focusing on gastrointestinal and genitourinary cancers. We highlight successful oncology applications, such as siRNA-based therapies targeting specific oncogenes, which have shown promise in clinical trials. Continued advancements in this field are paving the way for more effective and safer cancer treatments.
Keywords: gene silencing therapy, Antisense oligonucleotide, siRNA, miRNA, gastrointestinal cancer, genitourinary cancer
Received: 30 Jun 2025; Accepted: 12 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 El-Ghazzi and Angeli. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Nathan El-Ghazzi, n.el-ghazzi@bordeaux.unicancer.fr
Eurydice Angeli, eurydice.angeli@gmail.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.