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Guo J, Chen S, Onishi Y, Shi Q, Song Y, Mei H, Chen L, Kool ET, Zhu RY. RNA Control via Redox-Responsive Acylation. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202402178. [PMID: 38480851 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202402178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Incorporating stimuli-responsive components into RNA constructs provides precise spatiotemporal control over RNA structures and functions. Despite considerable advancements, the utilization of redox-responsive stimuli for the activation of caged RNAs remains scarce. In this context, we present a novel strategy that leverages post-synthetic acylation coupled with redox-responsive chemistry to exert control over RNA. To achieve this, we design and synthesize a series of acylating reagents specifically tailored for introducing disulfide-containing acyl adducts into the 2'-OH groups of RNA ("cloaking"). Our data reveal that these acyl moieties can be readily appended, effectively blocking RNA catalytic activity and folding. We also demonstrate the traceless release and reactivation of caged RNAs ("uncloaking") through reducing stimuli. By employing this strategy, RNA exhibits rapid cellular uptake, effective distribution and activation in the cytosol without lysosomal entrapment. We anticipate that our methodology will be accessible to laboratories engaged in RNA biology and holds promise as a versatile platform for RNA-based applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junsong Guo
- Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 4 Science Drive 2, Singapore, 117544, Singapore
| | - Siqin Chen
- Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 4 Science Drive 2, Singapore, 117544, Singapore
| | - Yoshiyuki Onishi
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Qi Shi
- Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 4 Science Drive 2, Singapore, 117544, Singapore
| | - Yangyang Song
- Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, 14 Medical Dr, Singapore, 117599, Singapore
| | - Hui Mei
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Leilei Chen
- Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, 14 Medical Dr, Singapore, 117599, Singapore
| | - Eric T Kool
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Ru-Yi Zhu
- Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 4 Science Drive 2, Singapore, 117544, Singapore
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2
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Hayashi J, Ochi Y, Senpuku K, Wada SI, Wada F, Harada-Shiba M, Urata H. Rational design of prodrug-type apoB-targeted siRNA for nuclease resistance improvement without compromising gene silencing potency. Bioorg Med Chem 2024; 104:117693. [PMID: 38552598 DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2024.117693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2024] [Revised: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Synthetic siRNA molecules without chemical modifications are easily degraded in the body, and 2'-O-modifications are frequently introduced to enhance stability. However, such chemical modifications tend to impact the gene knockdown potency of siRNA negatively. To circumvent this problem, we previously developed a prodrug-type siRNA bearing 2'-O-methyldithiomethyl (MDTM) groups, which can be converted into unmodified siRNA under the reductive environment in cells. In this study, we developed a nuclease-resistant prodrug-type 2'-O-MDTM siRNA for deployment in future animal experiments. To rationally design siRNA modified with a minimal number of 2'-O-MDTM nucleotide residues, we identified the sites susceptible to nuclease digestion and tolerant to 2'-O-methyl (2'-OMe) modification in the antisense strand of apolipoprotein B-targeted siRNA. Subsequently, we optimized the positions where the 2'-OMe and 2'-O-MDTM groups should be incorporated. siRNA bearing the 2'-O-MDTM and 2'-OMe groups at their respective optimized positions exhibited efficient knockdown potency in vitro and enhanced stability in serum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junsuke Hayashi
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 4-20-1 Nasahara, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-1094, Japan.
| | - Yosuke Ochi
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 4-20-1 Nasahara, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-1094, Japan
| | - Kota Senpuku
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 4-20-1 Nasahara, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-1094, Japan
| | - Shun-Ichi Wada
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 4-20-1 Nasahara, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-1094, Japan
| | - Fumito Wada
- National Cerebral & Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, 6-1 Kishibe-shinmachi, Suita, Osaka 564-8565, Japan
| | - Mariko Harada-Shiba
- National Cerebral & Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, 6-1 Kishibe-shinmachi, Suita, Osaka 564-8565, Japan
| | - Hidehito Urata
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 4-20-1 Nasahara, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-1094, Japan.
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Rühle J, Klemt I, Mokhir A. Triggering RNA Interference by Photoreduction under Red Light Irradiation. Molecules 2023; 28:molecules28104204. [PMID: 37241945 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28104204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 05/14/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
RNA interference (RNAi) using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) is a powerful tool to target any protein of interest and is becoming more suitable for in vivo applications due to recent developments in RNA delivery systems. To exploit RNAi for cancer treatment, it is desirable to increase its selectivity, e.g., by a prodrug approach to activate the siRNAs upon external triggering, e.g., by using light. Red light is especially well suited for in vivo applications due to its low toxicity and higher tissue penetration. Known molecular (not nanoparticle-based) red-light-activatable siRNA prodrugs rely on singlet oxygen (1O2)-mediated chemistry. 1O2 is highly cytotoxic. Additionally, one of the side products in the activation of the known siRNA prodrugs is anthraquinone, which is also toxic. We herein report on an improved redlight-activatable siRNA prodrug, which does not require 1O2 for its activation. In fact, the 5' terminus of the antisense strand is protected with an electron-rich azobenzene promoiety. It is reduced and cleaved upon red light exposure in the presence of Sn(IV)(pyropheophorbide a)dichloride acting as a catalyst and ascorbate as a bulk reducing agent. We confirmed the prodrug activation upon red light irradiation both in cell-free settings and in human ovarian cancer A2780 cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Rühle
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Organic Chemistry II, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Nikolaus-Fiebiger Str. 10, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Insa Klemt
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Organic Chemistry II, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Nikolaus-Fiebiger Str. 10, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Andriy Mokhir
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Organic Chemistry II, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Nikolaus-Fiebiger Str. 10, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
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Honcharenko D, Rocha CSJ, Lundin KE, Maity J, Milton S, Tedebark U, Murtola M, Honcharenko M, Slaitas A, Smith CIE, Zain R, Strömberg R. 2'- O-( N-(Aminoethyl)carbamoyl)methyl Modification Allows for Lower Phosphorothioate Content in Splice-Switching Oligonucleotides with Retained Activity. Nucleic Acid Ther 2022; 32:221-233. [PMID: 35238623 PMCID: PMC9221157 DOI: 10.1089/nat.2021.0086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
2′-O-(N-(Aminoethyl)carbamoyl)methyl (2′-O-AECM)-modified oligonucleotides (ONs) and their mixmers with 2′-O-methyl oligonucleotides (2′-OMe ONs) with phosphodiester linkers as well as with partial and full phosphorothioate (PS) inclusion were synthesized and functionally evaluated as splice-switching oligonucleotides in several different reporter cell lines originating from different tissues. This was enabled by first preparing the AECM-modified A, C, G and U, which required a different strategy for each building block. The AECM modification has previously been shown to provide high resistance to enzymatic degradation, even without PS linkages. It is therefore particularly interesting and unprecedented that the 2′-O-AECM ONs are shown to have efficient splice-switching activity even without inclusion of PS linkages and found to be as effective as 2′-OMe PS ONs. Importantly, the PS linkages can be partially included, without any significant reduction in splice-switching efficacy. This suggests that AECM modification has the potential to be used in balancing the PS content of ONs. Furthermore, conjugation of 2′-O-AECM ONs to an endosomal escape peptide significantly increased splice-switching suggesting that this effect could possibly be due to an increase in uptake of ON to the site of action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmytro Honcharenko
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Cristina S J Rocha
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Karin E Lundin
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Jyotirmoy Maity
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Stefan Milton
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Ulf Tedebark
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Merita Murtola
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
| | | | | | - C I Edvard Smith
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Rula Zain
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Genetics, Center for Rare Diseases, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Roger Strömberg
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
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Wada F, Hori SI, Obika S, Yamamoto T. Calcium-Mediated In Vitro Transfection Technique of Oligonucleotides with Broad Chemical Modification Compatibility. Methods Mol Biol 2021; 2176:141-154. [PMID: 32865788 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0771-8_10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Oligonucleotide drugs (ODs) have gained increasing attention owing to their promising therapeutic potential. One major obstacle that ODs have been facing is the lack of appropriate in vitro validation systems that can predict in vivo activity and toxicity. We have devised a transfection method called CEM (Ca2+-enrichment method), where the simple enrichment of calcium ion with calcium chloride in culture medium potentiates the activity of various types of naked oligonucleotides including gapmers, siRNA, and phosphorodiamidate morpholino antisense oligonucleotides (PMO) in many cultured cell lines with limited cytotoxicity. We here describe a precise procedure of the method. Besides the benefit of the CEM's predictive power to accurately estimate in vivo activity of ODs of your interest in drug discovery and development settings, this cost-efficient, easy-to-access method can be a robust laboratory technique to modulate gene expressions with ODs with a variety of mechanisms of action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fumito Wada
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.,Department of Molecular Innovation in Lipidology, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, Osaka, Japan
| | - Shin-Ichiro Hori
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.,Medicinal Chemistry Research Laboratory for Medium Molecular Drug Discovery, Shionogi & Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan
| | - Satoshi Obika
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
| | - Tsuyoshi Yamamoto
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. .,Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
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Kubo T, Nishimura Y, Sato Y, Yanagihara K, Seyama T. Sixteen Different Types of Lipid-Conjugated siRNAs Containing Saturated and Unsaturated Fatty Acids and Exhibiting Enhanced RNAi Potency. ACS Chem Biol 2021; 16:150-164. [PMID: 33346648 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.0c00847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
SiRNAs are strong gene-silencing agents that function in a target sequence-specific manner. Although siRNAs might one day be used in therapy for intractable diseases such as cancers, a number of problems with siRNAs must first be overcome. In this study, we developed 16 different types of lipid-conjugated siRNAs (lipid-siRNAs) that could effectively inhibit the expression of target genes. We determined the hybridization properties, cellular uptake efficacies, and RNAi potencies of the resulting lipid-siRNAs. The lipid-siRNAs exhibited a mild interaction with Lipofectamine RNAiMAX (LFRNAi) as a transfection reagent, and a high membrane permeability was observed in all lipid-siRNAs-LFRNAi complexes; the conjugate siRNAs composed of 16-18 carbon chains as fatty acids showed an especially good cellular uptake efficacy. The in vitro RNAi effect of lipid-siRNAs targeted to a β-catenin gene exhibited a strong RNAi potency compared with those of unmodified siRNAs. In particular, the conjugate siRNAs composed of 16-18 carbon chains as fatty acids showed excellent RNAi potencies with prolonged effectivities. Interestingly, the RNAi potencies of conjugate siRNAs containing 18 carbon chains with a trans-form (elaidic acid and trans-vaccenic acid) were inferior to those of the carbon chains with a cis-form (oleic acid and cis-vaccenic acid). These lipid-siRNAs can solve the many problems hindering the clinical application of siRNAs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Kazuyoshi Yanagihara
- Exploratory Oncology Research & Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center, Chiba 277-8577, Japan
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Syntheses of prodrug-type 2'-O-methyldithiomethyl oligonucleotides modified at natural four nucleoside residues and their conversions into natural 2'-hydroxy oligonucleotides under reducing condition. Bioorg Med Chem 2018; 26:5838-5844. [PMID: 30420326 DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2018.10.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2018] [Revised: 10/24/2018] [Accepted: 10/26/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
We previously reported that reducing-environment-responsive prodrug-type small interfering RNA (siRNA) bearing 2'-O-methyldithiomethyl (2'-O-MDTM) uridine exhibits efficient knockdown activity and nuclease resistance. In this report, we describe the preparation of 2'-O-MDTM oligonucleotides modified not only at uridine but also at adenosine, guanosine and cytidine residues by post-synthetic modification. Precursor oligonucleotides bearing 2'-O-(2,4,6-trimethoxybenzylthiomethyl) (2'-O-TMBTM) adenosine, guanosine, and cytidine were reacted with dimethyl(methylthio)sulfonium tetrafluoroborate to form 2'-O-MDTM oligonucleotides in the same manner as the oligonucleotide bearing 2'-O-TMBTM uridine. Furthermore, the oligonucleotides bearing 2'-O-MDTM adenosine, guanosine, and cytidine were efficiently converted into corresponding natural 2'-hydroxy oligonucleotides under the cytosol-mimetic reducing condition.
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Gymnotic delivery and gene silencing activity of reduction-responsive siRNAs bearing lipophilic disulfide-containing modifications at 2'-position. Bioorg Med Chem 2018; 26:4635-4643. [PMID: 30121212 DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2018.07.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2018] [Revised: 07/09/2018] [Accepted: 07/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Modified oligoribonucleotides used as siRNAs bearing biolabile disulfide-containing groups at some 2'-positions were synthesized following a post-synthesis transformation of solid-supported 2'-O-acetylthiomethyl RNA, previously described. Thus, the reduction-responsive and lipophilic benzyldithiomethyl (BnSSM) modification was introduced at different locations into siRNAs targeting the Ewing sarcoma EWS-Fli1 protein. Thermal stability, serum stability and response to glutathione treatment of modified siRNAs were thoroughly investigated. Among 17 modified siRNAs, significant gene silencing activities were demonstrated for the 8 most stable siRNAs in serum (half-life > 1 h) when using a transfection reagent. Of special interest, two naked 2'-O-BnSSM siRNAs transfection exhibited a remarkable gene silencing activity after 24 h incubation. These inhibitions are consistent with an efficient gymnotic delivery demonstrated by the presence of the corresponding fluorescent siRNAs within cells.
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