Viromer® in oncology research

Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Over 100 type of cancers have been identified to affect humans, causing about 16% of total annual deaths worldwide, with even a higher incidence in developed countries. In the last decades, progress in molecular genetics have permitted to better understand their mechanisms, their origin, and the role played by external factors, enabling the development of targeted therapies and early diagnosis. However, oncology research continues facing numerous challenges and fundamental knowledge is still required to propose innovative therapeutics.

As immortalized and transformed cells, the fate of cancer cells into a defined organ and their potential to spread to other tissues are typically considered in a context of gene regulation. Transfection is therefore a powerful tool to work on these mechanisms by enabling silencing or overexpression of specific genes such as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. For all types of cancer cells (carcinoma, sarcoma, glioma, lymphoma), model human and murine cell lines have been established; most of them being suitable as transfection hosts and commercially available. However, despite their high division rate, not all cancer cell lines used in research labs are easy-to-transfect. The Viromer® technology has addressed that challenge through a polymer-based chemistry emulating a viral mechanism.  As detailed in our cell database, about 80 cancer cell types, including primary cells, are amenable to transfection by using the Viromer® reagents.