Lipid nanoparticles carrying follistatin mRNA shrank mouse lung tumors and eased cancer muscle wasting

What the research found

Study (mice). ScienceDaily carried the Oregon State University account on 5 October 2026. Yoon Tae Goo, Oleh Taratula, and colleagues report in the Journal of Controlled Release (2026; 394:114870; doi 10.1016/j.jconrel.2026.114870). Intravenous lipid nanoparticles bound vitronectin in blood and collected in lung tumors, which overexpress integrin receptors that vitronectin engages. Follistatin messenger RNA delivered there told cells to make follistatin. Compared with conventional liver-seeking particles that produced follistatin in the body at large, tumor-directed delivery cut tumor burden about 2.5-fold more. The same treatment improved food intake, held body weight, and preserved muscle and fat in the mouse model of cancer cachexia, which the release says can kill as many as 30 percent of the cancer patients it affects. The American Cancer Society figures in the release are about 230,000 new U.S. lung-cancer cases and about 125,000 deaths this year. The release does not give mouse counts. The authors say more preclinical work is required before any human test. This is not a treatment available to patients. Educational notes. This is not medical advice.

Evidence level: Animal study. Results in animals or cells often don't carry over to people.

Read the original at Oregon State University / Journal of Controlled Release