Following intraperitoneal administration, the CD44 targeting hyaluronic acid-poly(ethylenimine) (HA-PEI)-based nanoparticles encapsulating miRNA-125b nanoparticles were shown to accumulate in the macrophage-ablated lung tissues of both naïve and KRAS/p53 double mutant genetically engineered (KP-GEM) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) mouse model. Here, CD44 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.