Here we show the metastatic spread of multiple myeloma (in green), an incurable hematological cancer, throughout the skeletal tissue of mice, specifically a mouse tibia shown here. Bone has less vasculature (shown in red) than other organs in the body, which makes it difficult to deliver drugs to target cancer cells.

Once multiple myeloma spreads to different bones in the body, patient survival rates drop dramatically to 3-6 months. In the Langer Lab, we have now developed novel gene delivery vehicles that, for the first time, enable potent gene silencing in target bone and bone marrow cells in vivo. We are using these candidates to develop the first nanoparticle gene therapy to silencing genes in the bone marrow microenvironment, specifically in stromal and endothelial cells, to treat late stage multiple myeloma.