PROF. PEIXUAN GUO
Motile and deformative RNAs as polymers to build controllable and defined nanostructures for spontaneous cancer targeting with undetectable toxicity
Peixuan Guo (guo.1091@osu.edu)
Center for RNA Nanobiotechnology and Nanomedicine; College of Pharmacy and College of Medicine; the Ohio State University, Columbus, USA
The prediction that RNA would be the third milestone in drug development has now been realized. RNA can be designed and manipulated with the same level of simplicity as DNA while displaying versatile structure and enzyme activity of proteins. RNA can fold into single-stranded loops or bulges to serve as intrinsic docking interfaces for inter-molecular or domain interactions without requiring external linkers. RNA can serve as a unique polymeric material for building a variety of nanostructures with potential applications in biomedical and materials sciences, such as cancer targeting, drug delivery, tissue engineering, biosensing, resistive biomemory, and potential computer logic gates. The rising popularity of RNA nanoparticles is due to many factors: (1) in-vitro and in-vivo degradation of RNA can be prevented by introducing chemical modification into nucleotides without significant alteration of the RNA property in folding and self-assembly; (2) RNA displays very high thermodynamic stability and is suitable for in vivo trafficking and other applications; (3) immunogenic properties of synthetic RNA constructs can be tuned for in vivo applications; (4) increased understanding of the 4D structure and intermolecular interaction of RNA molecules; (5) developing methods to control shape, size, and stoichiometry of RNA nanoparticles; (6) increasing knowledge of regulation and processing functions of RNA in cells; (7) decreasing cost of RNA production by biological and chemical synthesis; (8) proving the concept that RNA is a safe and specific therapeutic modality for cancer and other diseases with little or no accumulation in vital organ; (9) Its negative charge prevents nonspecific binding to negatively charged cell membranes. RNA nanoparticles exhibit rubber- and amoeba-like properties. The dynamic, motile, and deformable nature leads to rapid and efficient intra-tumor penetration, spontaneous tumor accumulation, and rapid passage through renal glomerular filtration for clearance of non-tumor-accumulated RNA into urine, resulting in highly efficient cancer treatment with undetectable toxicity.
The most recent publications from Guo lab: Advanced Functional Materials, 2026; Nature Protocols, 2026; Nanomedicine, 2025; Noncoding RNA Research, 2025; RNA; 2025; Nucleic Acid Research 2025; Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2025.