An innovative mesothelioma treatment based on miR-16 mimic loaded EGFR targeted minicells (TargomiRs)

On September 2017, The Lancet Oncology published the safety and activity data of a first-in-human study of microRNA-loaded minicells as a treatment for recurrent malignant pleural mesothelioma patients by van Zandwijk and colleagues (1). The rationale of this interesting study relies on the potential inhibition of tumor growth through the restoration of miR-16 with a miRNA mimic that is delivered into the tumor cells with TargomiRs (EGFR targeted minicells) (2,3). It has been demonstrated that several members of the miR-16 family are downregulated in malignant mesothelioma. These miRNAs act as tumor suppressors and their primary targets are genes involved in cancer progression including BCL2, CDK1 and JUN