Zhihang Chen1,
Marie-France Penet1, Balaji Krishnamachary1, Sangeeta
Ray1, Cong Li2, Paul T. Winnard1, Martin G.
Pomper1, Zaver M. Bhujwalla3
1The
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2School
of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; 3Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, MD, United States
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second leading cause of death from cancer in men in the U.S, and there is a compelling need to find effective treatments for refractory metastatic disease. Theranostic approaches combining detection with treatment hold promise for cancer-cell-specific treatments especially with molecular reagents such as cDNA or siRNA that can increase or decrease the expression of genes of interest. Here we have developed a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) targeted nanoplex carrying tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) cDNA and a prodrug enzyme for theranostic imaging of metastatic PCa.