Table 1.

A Number of Successful Examples of Breast Cancer Therapy with siRNAs

siRNA Targeting	Identity of Protein	Function of Protein	Delivered by MSN	Reference
EphA2	a transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase	a decrease in EphA2 expression both in vitro and in vivo, correlated with reduced migration and experimental metastasis of breast cancer cells	–	7
AKT1/2	serine/threonine kinase	cancer progression and metastasis	–	133
PKN3	protein kinase N3	knockdown of PKN3 protein not only blocks metastasis but also impairs primary breast tumor growth and angiogenesis	–	7
FAK	focal adhesion kinase	cell migration and metastasis	–	134
VEGF	receptor tyrosine kinase	stimulates endothelial cell proliferation and regulates vascular permeability	Yes	79
Bcl2	Bcl2 family protein	predicts response to anthracycline combination	Yes	135
Mcl1	Bcl2 family protein	autophagy inhibition	–	136
Survivin	inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) family	inhibits caspase activation, leading to negative regulation of apoptosis or programmed cell death	Yes	101
P-gp	ATP-dependent drug efflux pump	decreases chemotherapy drug concentrations and chemoresistance development	Yes	12
c-myc	oncogene	resistance development	–	7
BRCA	tumor suppressor gene	DNA repair	–	137, 138
EGFR	receptor tyrosine kinase	cell proliferation and differentiation	–	139
c-KIT	receptor tyrosine kinase	cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation	–	140