Synthetic Lethality: From Research to Precision Cancer Nanomedicine

Cancer is an evolutionary disease with multiple genetic alterations, accumulated due to chromosomal instability and/or aneuploidy and it sometimes acquires drug-resistant phenotype also. Whole genome sequencing and mutational analysis helped in understanding the differences among persons for predisposition of a disease and its treatment non-responsiveness. Thus, molecular targeted therapies came into existence. Among them, the concept of synthetic lethality have enthralled great attention as it is a pragmatic approach towards exploiting cancer cell specific mutations to specifically kill cancer cells without affecting normal cells and thus enhancing anti-cancer drug therapeutic index. Thus, this approach helped in discovering new therapeutic molecules for development of precision medicine. Nanotechnology helped in delivering these molecules to the target site in an effective concentration thus reducing off target effects of drugs, dose and dosage frequency drugs. Researchers have tried to deliver siRNA targeting synthetic lethal partner for target cancer cell killing by incorporating it in nanoparticles and it has shown efficacy by preventing tumor progression. This review summarizes the brief introduction of synthetic lethality, and synthetic lethal gene interactions, with a major focus on its therapeutic anticancer potential with the application of nanotechnology for development of personalized medicine.