1
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Hill AC, Becker JP, Slominski D, Halloy F, Søndergaard C, Ravn J, Hall J. Peptide Conjugates of a 2'- O-Methoxyethyl Phosphorothioate Splice-Switching Oligonucleotide Show Increased Entrapment in Endosomes. ACS OMEGA 2023; 8:40463-40481. [PMID: 37929104 PMCID: PMC10620785 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c05144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are short, single-stranded nucleic acid molecules that alter gene expression. However, their transport into appropriate cellular compartments is a limiting factor in their potency. Here, we synthesized splice-switching oligonucleotides (SSOs) previously developed to treat the rare disease erythropoietic protoporphyria. Using chemical ligation-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (CL-qPCR), we quantified the SSOs in cells and subcellular compartments following free uptake. To drive nuclear localization, we covalently conjugated nuclear localization signal (NLS) peptides to a lead 2'-O-methoxyethyl phosphorothioate SSO using thiol-maleimide chemistry. The conjugates and parent SSO displayed similar RNA target-binding affinities. CL-qPCR quantification of the conjugates in cells and subcellular compartments following free uptake revealed one conjugate with better nuclear accumulation relative to the parent SSO. However, compared to the parent SSO, which altered the splicing of the target pre-mRNA, the conjugates were inactive at splice correction under free uptake conditions in vitro. Splice-switching activity could be conferred on the conjugates by delivering them into cells via cationic lipid-mediated transfection or by treating the cells into which the conjugates had been freely taken up with chloroquine, an endosome-disrupting agent. Our results identify the major barrier to the activity of the peptide-oligonucleotide conjugates as endosomal entrapment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa C. Hill
- Institute
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
(ETH Zürich), Zürich 8093, Switzerland
| | - J. Philipp Becker
- Institute
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
(ETH Zürich), Zürich 8093, Switzerland
| | - Daria Slominski
- Institute
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
(ETH Zürich), Zürich 8093, Switzerland
| | - François Halloy
- Institute
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
(ETH Zürich), Zürich 8093, Switzerland
| | | | - Jacob Ravn
- Roche
Innovation Center Copenhagen (RICC), Hørsholm 2970, Denmark
| | - Jonathan Hall
- Institute
of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
(ETH Zürich), Zürich 8093, Switzerland
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2
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Egberink RO, van Asbeck AH, Boswinkel M, Muradjan G, Dieker J, Brock R. Deciphering Structural Determinants Distinguishing Active from Inactive Cell-Penetrating Peptides for Cytosolic mRNA Delivery. Bioconjug Chem 2023; 34:1822-1834. [PMID: 37733627 PMCID: PMC10587869 DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.3c00346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023]
Abstract
The formation of noncovalent complexes by mixing of positively charged polymers with negatively charged oligonucleotides (ONs) is a widely explored concept in nanomedicine to achieve cellular delivery of ONs. Uptake of ON complexes occurs through endocytosis, which then requires release of ON from endosomes. As one type of polymer, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are being used which are peptides of about 8-30 amino acids in length. However, only a few CPPs yield effective cytosolic ON delivery and activity. Several strategies have been devised to increase cellular uptake and enhance endosomal release, among which an increase of osmotic pressure through the so-called proton sponge effect, disruption of membrane integrity through membrane activity, and disulfide-mediated polymerization. Here, we address the relevance of these concepts for mRNA delivery by incorporating structural features into the human lactoferrin-derived CPP, which shows uptake but not delivery. The incorporation of histidines was explored to address osmotic pressure and structural motifs of the delivery-active CPP PepFect14 (PF14) to address membrane disturbance, and finally, the impact of polymerization was explored. Whereas oligomerization increased the stability of polyplexes against heparin-induced decomplexation, neither this approach nor the incorporation of histidine residues to promote a proton-sponge effect yielded activity. Also, the replacement of arginine residues with lysine or ornithine residues, as in PF14, was without effect, even though all polyplexes showed cellular uptake. Ultimately, sufficient activity could only be achieved by transferring amphipathic sequence motifs from PF14 into the hLF context with some benefit of oligomerization demonstrating overarching principles of delivery for CPPs, lipid nanoparticles, and other types of delivery polymers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rik Oude Egberink
- Department
of Medical BioSciences, Research Institute for Medical Innovation, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Alexander H. van Asbeck
- Department
of Medical BioSciences, Research Institute for Medical Innovation, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Milou Boswinkel
- Department
of Medical BioSciences, Research Institute for Medical Innovation, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Grigor Muradjan
- Department
of Medical BioSciences, Research Institute for Medical Innovation, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Jürgen Dieker
- Department
of Medical BioSciences, Research Institute for Medical Innovation, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Roland Brock
- Department
of Medical BioSciences, Research Institute for Medical Innovation, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department
of Medical Biochemistry, College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Manama 329, Bahrain
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3
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Klipp A, Burger M, Leroux JC. Get out or die trying: Peptide- and protein-based endosomal escape of RNA therapeutics. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 2023; 200:115047. [PMID: 37536508 DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2023.115047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Revised: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
RNA therapeutics offer great potential to transform the biomedical landscape, encompassing the treatment of hereditary conditions and the development of better vaccines. However, the delivery of RNAs into the cell is hampered, among others, by poor endosomal escape. This major hurdle is often tackled using special lipids, polymers, or protein-based delivery vectors. In this review, we will focus on the most prominent peptide- and protein-based endosomal escape strategies with focus on RNA drugs. We discuss cell penetrating peptides, which are still incorporated into novel transfection systems today to promote endosomal escape. However, direct evidence for enhanced endosomal escape by the action of such peptides is missing and their transfection efficiency, even in permissive cell culture conditions, is rather low. Endosomal escape by the help of pore forming proteins or phospholipases, on the other hand, allowed to generate more efficient transfection systems. These are, however, often hampered by considerable toxicity and immunogenicity. We conclude that the perfect enhancer of endosomal escape has yet to be devised. To increase the chances of success, any new transfection system should be tested under relevant conditions and guided by assays that allow direct quantification of endosomal escape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Klipp
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Michael Burger
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Jean-Christophe Leroux
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
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4
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Gori A, Lodigiani G, Colombarolli SG, Bergamaschi G, Vitali A. Cell Penetrating Peptides: Classification, Mechanisms, Methods of Study, and Applications. ChemMedChem 2023; 18:e202300236. [PMID: 37389978 DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202300236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/02/2023]
Abstract
Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) encompass a class of peptides that possess the remarkable ability to cross cell membranes and deliver various types of cargoes, including drugs, nucleic acids, and proteins, into cells. For this reason, CPPs are largely investigated in drug delivery applications in the context of many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and genetic disorders. While sharing this functionality and some common structural features, such as a high content of positively charged amino acids, CPPs represent an extremely diverse group of elements, which can differentiate under many aspects. In this review, we summarize the most common characteristics of CPPs, introduce their main distinctive features, mechanistic aspects that drive their function, and outline the most widely used techniques for their structural and functional studies. We highlight current gaps and future perspectives in this field, which have the potential to significantly impact the future field of drug delivery and therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Gori
- SCITEC - Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta", National Research Council of Italy, Via Mario Bianco 9, 20131, Milano, Italy
| | - Giulia Lodigiani
- SCITEC - Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta", National Research Council of Italy, Via Mario Bianco 9, 20131, Milano, Italy
| | - Stella G Colombarolli
- Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta", National Research Council of Italy, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168, Roma, Italy
| | - Greta Bergamaschi
- SCITEC - Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta", National Research Council of Italy, Via Mario Bianco 9, 20131, Milano, Italy
| | - Alberto Vitali
- Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta", National Research Council of Italy, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168, Roma, Italy
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5
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Zakany F, Mándity IM, Varga Z, Panyi G, Nagy P, Kovacs T. Effect of the Lipid Landscape on the Efficacy of Cell-Penetrating Peptides. Cells 2023; 12:1700. [PMID: 37443733 PMCID: PMC10340183 DOI: 10.3390/cells12131700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2023] [Revised: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Every cell biological textbook teaches us that the main role of the plasma membrane is to separate cells from their neighborhood to allow for a controlled composition of the intracellular space. The mostly hydrophobic nature of the cell membrane presents an impenetrable barrier for most hydrophilic molecules larger than 1 kDa. On the other hand, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are capable of traversing this barrier without compromising membrane integrity, and they can do so on their own or coupled to cargos. Coupling biologically and medically relevant cargos to CPPs holds great promise of delivering membrane-impermeable drugs into cells. If the cargo is able to interact with certain cell types, uptake of the CPP-drug complex can be tailored to be cell-type-specific. Besides outlining the major membrane penetration pathways of CPPs, this review is aimed at deciphering how properties of the membrane influence the uptake mechanisms of CPPs. By summarizing an extensive body of experimental evidence, we argue that a more ordered, less flexible membrane structure, often present in the very diseases planned to be treated with CPPs, decreases their cellular uptake. These correlations are not only relevant for understanding the cellular biology of CPPs, but also for rationally improving their value in translational or clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florina Zakany
- Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary; (F.Z.); (Z.V.); (G.P.)
| | - István M. Mándity
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary;
- TTK Lendület Artificial Transporter Research Group, Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Zoltan Varga
- Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary; (F.Z.); (Z.V.); (G.P.)
| | - Gyorgy Panyi
- Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary; (F.Z.); (Z.V.); (G.P.)
| | - Peter Nagy
- Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary; (F.Z.); (Z.V.); (G.P.)
| | - Tamas Kovacs
- Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary; (F.Z.); (Z.V.); (G.P.)
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6
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Choosing an Optimal Solvent Is Crucial for Obtaining Cell-Penetrating Peptide Nanoparticles with Desired Properties and High Activity in Nucleic Acid Delivery. Pharmaceutics 2023; 15:pharmaceutics15020396. [PMID: 36839718 PMCID: PMC9963036 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15020396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are highly promising transfection agents that can deliver various compounds into living cells, including nucleic acids (NAs). Positively charged CPPs can form non-covalent complexes with negatively charged NAs, enabling simple and time-efficient nanoparticle preparation. However, as CPPs have substantially different chemical and physical properties, their complexation with the cargo and characteristics of the resulting nanoparticles largely depends on the properties of the surrounding environment, i.e., solution. Here, we show that the solvent used for the initial dissolving of a CPP determines the properties of the resulting CPP particles formed in an aqueous solution, including the activity and toxicity of the CPP-NA complexes. Using different biophysical methods such as dynamic light scattering (DLS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM), we show that PepFect14 (PF14), a cationic amphipathic CPP, forms spherical particles of uniform size when dissolved in organic solvents, such as ethanol and DMSO. Water-dissolved PF14, however, tends to form micelles and non-uniform aggregates. When dissolved in organic solvents, PF14 retains its α-helical conformation and biological activity in cell culture conditions without any increase in cytotoxicity. Altogether, our results indicate that by using a solvent that matches the chemical nature of the CPP, the properties of the peptide-cargo particles can be tuned in the desired way. This can be of critical importance for in vivo applications, where CPP particles that are too large, non-uniform, or prone to aggregation may induce severe consequences.
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7
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Functionalized chitosan as a promising platform for cancer immunotherapy: A review. Carbohydr Polym 2022; 290:119452. [DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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8
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Szabó I, Yousef M, Soltész D, Bató C, Mező G, Bánóczi Z. Redesigning of Cell-Penetrating Peptides to Improve Their Efficacy as a Drug Delivery System. Pharmaceutics 2022; 14:pharmaceutics14050907. [PMID: 35631493 PMCID: PMC9146218 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14050907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Revised: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Cell-penetrating peptides (CPP) are promising tools for the transport of a broad range of compounds into cells. Since the discovery of the first members of this peptide family, many other peptides have been identified; nowadays, dozens of these peptides are known. These peptides sometimes have very different chemical–physical properties, but they have similar drawbacks; e.g., non-specific internalization, fast elimination from the body, intracellular/vesicular entrapment. Although our knowledge regarding the mechanism and structure–activity relationship of internalization is growing, the prediction and design of the cell-penetrating properties are challenging. In this review, we focus on the different modifications of well-known CPPs to avoid their drawbacks, as well as how these modifications may increase their internalization and/or change the mechanism of penetration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ildikó Szabó
- MTA-ELTE Research Group of Peptide Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH), Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary;
- Correspondence: (I.S.); (Z.B.)
| | - Mo’ath Yousef
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary; (M.Y.); (D.S.); (C.B.)
| | - Dóra Soltész
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary; (M.Y.); (D.S.); (C.B.)
| | - Csaba Bató
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary; (M.Y.); (D.S.); (C.B.)
| | - Gábor Mező
- MTA-ELTE Research Group of Peptide Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH), Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary;
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary; (M.Y.); (D.S.); (C.B.)
| | - Zoltán Bánóczi
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary; (M.Y.); (D.S.); (C.B.)
- Correspondence: (I.S.); (Z.B.)
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9
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Novel endosomolytic compounds enable highly potent delivery of antisense oligonucleotides. Commun Biol 2022; 5:185. [PMID: 35233031 PMCID: PMC8888659 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03132-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The therapeutic and research potentials of oligonucleotides (ONs) have been hampered in part by their inability to effectively escape endosomal compartments to reach their cytosolic and nuclear targets. Splice-switching ONs (SSOs) can be used with endosomolytic small molecule compounds to increase functional delivery. So far, development of these compounds has been hindered by a lack of high-resolution methods that can correlate SSO trafficking with SSO activity. Here we present in-depth characterization of two novel endosomolytic compounds by using a combination of microscopic and functional assays with high spatiotemporal resolution. This system allows the visualization of SSO trafficking, evaluation of endosomal membrane rupture, and quantitates SSO functional activity on a protein level in the presence of endosomolytic compounds. We confirm that the leakage of SSO into the cytosol occurs in parallel with the physical engorgement of LAMP1-positive late endosomes and lysosomes. We conclude that the new compounds interfere with SSO trafficking to the LAMP1-positive endosomal compartments while inducing endosomal membrane rupture and concurrent ON escape into the cytosol. The efficacy of these compounds advocates their use as novel, potent, and quick-acting transfection reagents for antisense ONs. Two new endosomolytic small compounds increase delivery of splice-switching oligonucleotides by interfering with their trafficking to the LAMP1-positive endosomal compartments, inducing endosomal membrane rupture and concurrent oligonucleotide escape into the cytosol.
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10
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Kumari S, Booth V. Antimicrobial Peptide Mechanisms Studied by Whole-Cell Deuterium NMR. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23052740. [PMID: 35269882 PMCID: PMC8910884 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23052740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 02/24/2022] [Accepted: 02/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Much of the work probing antimicrobial peptide (AMP) mechanisms has focussed on how these molecules permeabilize lipid bilayers. However, AMPs must also traverse a variety of non-lipid cell envelope components before they reach the lipid bilayer. Additionally, there is a growing list of AMPs with non-lipid targets inside the cell. It is thus useful to extend the biophysical methods that have been traditionally applied to study AMP mechanisms in liposomes to the full bacteria, where the lipids are present along with the full complexity of the rest of the bacterium. This review focusses on what can be learned about AMP mechanisms from solid-state NMR of AMP-treated intact bacteria. It also touches on flow cytometry as a complementary method for measuring permeabilization of bacterial lipid membranes in whole bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarika Kumari
- Department of Biochemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada;
| | - Valerie Booth
- Department of Biochemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada;
- Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-709-864-4523
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11
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Maloverjan M, Padari K, Abroi A, Rebane A, Pooga M. Divalent Metal Ions Boost Effect of Nucleic Acids Delivered by Cell-Penetrating Peptides. Cells 2022; 11:cells11040756. [PMID: 35203400 PMCID: PMC8870069 DOI: 10.3390/cells11040756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Revised: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are promising tools for the transfection of various substances, including nucleic acids, into cells. The aim of the current work was to search for novel safe and effective approaches for enhancing transfection efficiency of nanoparticles formed from CPP and splice-correcting oligonucleotide (SCO) without increasing the concentration of peptide. We analyzed the effect of inclusion of calcium and magnesium ions into nanoparticles on CPP-mediated transfection in cell culture. We also studied the mechanism of such transfection as well as its efficiency, applicability in case of different cell lines, nucleic acid types and peptides, and possible limitations. We discovered a strong positive effect of these ions on transfection efficiency of SCO, that translated to enhanced synthesis of functional reporter protein. We observed significant changes in intracellular distribution and trafficking of nanoparticles formed by the addition of the ions, without increasing cytotoxicity. We propose a novel strategy for preparing CPP-oligonucleotide nanoparticles with enhanced efficiency and, thus, higher therapeutic potential. Our discovery may be translated to primary cell cultures and, possibly, in vivo studies, with the aim of increasing CPP-mediated transfection efficiency and the likelihood of using CPPs in clinics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Maloverjan
- Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, 1 Nooruse Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia; (M.M.); (A.A.)
| | - Kärt Padari
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, 23b Riia Street, 51010 Tartu, Estonia;
| | - Aare Abroi
- Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, 1 Nooruse Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia; (M.M.); (A.A.)
| | - Ana Rebane
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, 14b Ravila Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia;
| | - Margus Pooga
- Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, 1 Nooruse Street, 50411 Tartu, Estonia; (M.M.); (A.A.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +372-737-4836
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12
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Hadianamrei R, Zhao X. Current state of the art in peptide-based gene delivery. J Control Release 2022; 343:600-619. [PMID: 35157938 DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.02.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Revised: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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13
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PepFect14 Signaling and Transfection. Methods Mol Biol 2021. [PMID: 34766293 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1752-6_15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/23/2023]
Abstract
PepFect14 is a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) derived from stearylated transportan-10 (strearil-TP10) with which it shares the stearic acid residue on C' terminus and the amino acid sequence except for lysines that in PepFect14 are substituted with ornithines. Being non-proteinogenic amino acids, ornithines make PepFect14 less sensitive to serum proteases and due to its positive charges the CPP can form complexes with negatively charged cargos, such as splice correcting oligonucleotides (SCOs), plasmid DNA (pDNA), and proteins. It has been reported that PepFect14/SCO complexes enter the cells mainly through endocytosis, in particular: macopinocitosys and caveolae-mediated endocytosis through the interaction with two receptors of the scavenger receptors class A family (SCARAs). PepFect14 and its complexes trigger the chaperone-mediated autophagy response involving the heat shock protein family (HSP70) whose inhibition leads to an increase of PepFect14 transfection efficacy. Exploiting the interaction between HSP70 and PepFect14 and their ability to form nanoparticle. HSP70 has been delivered in Bomirsky Hamster Melanoma cells (BHM) using PepFect14 of which a protocol is described at the end of this chapter.
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14
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Aoki Y, Rocha CSJ, Lehto T, Miyatake S, Johansson H, Hashimoto Y, Nordin JZ, Mager I, Aoki M, Graham M, Sathyaprakash C, Roberts TC, Wood MJA, Behlke MA, Andaloussi SE. Fine Tuning of Phosphorothioate Inclusion in 2'-O-Methyl Oligonucleotides Contributes to Specific Cell Targeting for Splice-Switching Modulation. Front Physiol 2021; 12:689179. [PMID: 34721051 PMCID: PMC8548633 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.689179] [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] [Received: 03/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Splice-switching antisense oligonucleotide- (SSO-) mediated correction of framedisrupting mutation-containing premessenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts using exon skipping is a highly promising treatment method for muscular diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Phosphorothioate (PS) chemistry, a commonly used oligonucleotide modification, has been shown to increase the stability of and improve the pharmacokinetics of SSOs. However, the effect of PS inclusion in 2′-O-methyl SSOs (2OMe) on cellular uptake and splice switching is less well-understood. At present, we demonstrate that the modification of PS facilitates the uptake of 2OMe in H2k-mdx myoblasts. Furthermore, we found a dependency of SSO nuclear accumulation and high splice-switching activity on PS inclusion in 2OMe (2OMePS), as tested in various reporter cell lines carrying pLuc/705. Increased exon-inclusion activity was observed in muscle, neuronal, liver, and bone cell lineages via both the gymnotic uptake and lipofection of 2OMePS. Using the photoactivatable ribonucleoside-enhanced crosslinking and a subsequent proteomic approach, we identified several 2OMePS-binding proteins, which are likely to play a role in the trafficking of 2OMePS to the nucleus. Ablation of one of them, Ncl by small-interfering RNA (siRNA) enhanced 2OMePS uptake in C2C12 myoblasts and upregulated luciferase RNA splicing in the HeLa Luc/705 reporter cell line. Overall, we demonstrate that PS inclusion increases nuclear delivery and splice switching in muscle, neuronal, liver, and bone cell lineages and that the modulation of 2OMePS-binding partners may improve SSO delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshitsugu Aoki
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan.,Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Cristina S J Rocha
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Taavi Lehto
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Shouta Miyatake
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan
| | - Henrik Johansson
- Department of Oncology-Pathology, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Yasumasa Hashimoto
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan
| | - Joel Z Nordin
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan.,Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Imre Mager
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Misako Aoki
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - McClorey Graham
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Chaitra Sathyaprakash
- Department of Molecular Therapy, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan
| | - Thomas C Roberts
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew J A Wood
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Mark A Behlke
- Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., Coralville, IA, United States
| | - Samir El Andaloussi
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden
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15
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Bost JP, Barriga H, Holme MN, Gallud A, Maugeri M, Gupta D, Lehto T, Valadi H, Esbjörner EK, Stevens MM, El-Andaloussi S. Delivery of Oligonucleotide Therapeutics: Chemical Modifications, Lipid Nanoparticles, and Extracellular Vesicles. ACS NANO 2021; 15:13993-14021. [PMID: 34505766 PMCID: PMC8482762 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c05099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Oligonucleotides (ONs) comprise a rapidly growing class of therapeutics. In recent years, the list of FDA-approved ON therapies has rapidly expanded. ONs are small (15-30 bp) nucleotide-based therapeutics which are capable of targeting DNA and RNA as well as other biomolecules. ONs can be subdivided into several classes based on their chemical modifications and on the mechanisms of their target interactions. Historically, the largest hindrance to the widespread usage of ON therapeutics has been their inability to effectively internalize into cells and escape from endosomes to reach their molecular targets in the cytosol or nucleus. While cell uptake has been improved, "endosomal escape" remains a significant problem. There are a range of approaches to overcome this, and in this review, we focus on three: altering the chemical structure of the ONs, formulating synthetic, lipid-based nanoparticles to encapsulate the ONs, or biologically loading the ONs into extracellular vesicles. This review provides a background to the design and mode of action of existing FDA-approved ONs. It presents the most common ON classifications and chemical modifications from a fundamental scientific perspective and provides a roadmap of the cellular uptake pathways by which ONs are trafficked. Finally, this review delves into each of the above-mentioned approaches to ON delivery, highlighting the scientific principles behind each and covering recent advances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy P. Bost
- Department
of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge 14152, Sweden
| | - Hanna Barriga
- Department
of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden
| | - Margaret N. Holme
- Department
of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden
| | - Audrey Gallud
- Department
of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers
University of Technology, Gothenburg 41296, Sweden
- Advanced
Drug Delivery, Pharmaceutical Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg 43150, Sweden
| | - Marco Maugeri
- Department
of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine,
Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 41390, Sweden
| | - Dhanu Gupta
- Department
of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge 14152, Sweden
| | - Taavi Lehto
- Department
of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge 14152, Sweden
- Institute
of Technology, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, Tartu 50411, Estonia
| | - Hadi Valadi
- Department
of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine,
Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 41390, Sweden
| | - Elin K. Esbjörner
- Department
of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers
University of Technology, Gothenburg 41296, Sweden
| | - Molly M. Stevens
- Department
of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden
- Department
of Materials, Department of Bioengineering, Institute of Biomedical
Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BU, United Kingdom
| | - Samir El-Andaloussi
- Department
of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge 14152, Sweden
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16
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Novel Orthogonally Hydrocarbon-Modified Cell-Penetrating Peptide Nanoparticles Mediate Efficient Delivery of Splice-Switching Antisense Oligonucleotides In Vitro and In Vivo. Biomedicines 2021; 9:biomedicines9081046. [PMID: 34440250 PMCID: PMC8392223 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9081046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Revised: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Splice-switching therapy with splice-switching oligonucleotides (SSOs) has recently proven to be a clinically applicable strategy for the treatment of several mis-splice disorders. Despite this, wider application of SSOs is severely limited by the inherently poor bioavailability of SSO-based therapeutic compounds. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are a class of drug delivery systems (DDSs) that have recently gained considerable attention for improving the uptake of various oligonucleotide (ON)-based compounds, including SSOs. One strategy that has been successfully applied to develop effective CPP vectors is the introduction of various lipid modifications into the peptide. Here, we repurpose hydrocarbon-modified amino acids used in peptide stapling for the orthogonal introduction of hydrophobic modifications into the CPP structure during peptide synthesis. Our data show that α,α-disubstituted alkenyl-alanines can be successfully utilized to introduce hydrophobic modifications into CPPs to improve their ability to formulate SSOs into nanoparticles (NPs), and to mediate high delivery efficacy and tolerability both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusively, our results offer a new flexible approach for the sequence-specific introduction of hydrophobicity into the structure of CPPs and for improving their delivery properties.
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17
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Internalisation and Biological Activity of Nucleic Acids Delivering Cell-Penetrating Peptide Nanoparticles Is Controlled by the Biomolecular Corona. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2021; 14:ph14070667. [PMID: 34358093 PMCID: PMC8308718 DOI: 10.3390/ph14070667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2021] [Revised: 07/06/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Nucleic acid molecules can be transferred into cells to alter gene expression and, thus, alleviate certain pathological conditions. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are vectors that can be used for transfecting nucleic acids as well as many other compounds. CPPs associate nucleic acids non-covalently, forming stable nanoparticles and providing efficient transfection of cells in vitro. However, in vivo, expected efficiency is achieved only in rare cases. One of the reasons for this discrepancy is the formation of protein corona around nanoparticles, once they are exposed to a biological environment, e.g., blood stream. In this study, we compared protein corona of CPP-nucleic acid nanoparticles formed in the presence of bovine, murine and human serum. We used Western blot and mass-spectrometry to identify the major constituents of protein corona forming around nanoparticles, showing that proteins involved in transport, haemostasis and complement system are its major components. We investigated physical features of nanoparticles and measured their biological efficiency in splice-correction assay. We showed that protein corona constituents might alter the fate of nanoparticles in vivo, e.g., by subjecting them to phagocytosis. We demonstrated that composition of protein corona of nanoparticles is species-specific that leads to dissimilar transfection efficiency and should be considered while developing delivery systems for nucleic acids.
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18
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Efficient Peptide-Mediated In Vitro Delivery of Cas9 RNP. Pharmaceutics 2021; 13:pharmaceutics13060878. [PMID: 34198625 PMCID: PMC8232299 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13060878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2021] [Revised: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The toolbox for genetic engineering has quickly evolved from CRISPR/Cas9 to a myriad of different gene editors, each with promising properties and enormous clinical potential. However, a major challenge remains: delivering the CRISPR machinery to the nucleus of recipient cells in a nontoxic and efficient manner. In this article, we repurpose an RNA-delivering cell-penetrating peptide, PepFect14 (PF14), to deliver Cas9 ribonucleoprotein (RNP). The RNP-CPP complex achieved high editing rates, e.g., up to 80% in HEK293T cells, while being active at low nanomolar ranges without any apparent signs of toxicity. The editing efficiency was similar to or better compared to the commercially available reagents RNAiMAX and CRISPRMax. The efficiency was thoroughly evaluated in reporter cells and wild-type cells by restriction enzyme digest and next-generation sequencing. Furthermore, the CPP-Cas9-RNP complexes were demonstrated to withstand storage at different conditions, including freeze-thaw cycles and freeze-drying, without a loss in editing efficiency. This CPP-based delivery strategy complements existing technologies and further opens up new opportunities for Cas9 RNP delivery, which can likely be extended to other gene editors in the future.
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19
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Song Q, Wang XQ, Holmes TR, Bonkowski M, Roth EW, Ponedal A, Mirkin C, Paller AS. Epidermal SR-A Complexes Are Lipid Raft Based and Promote Nucleic Acid Nanoparticle Uptake. J Invest Dermatol 2021; 141:1428-1437.e8. [PMID: 33385397 PMCID: PMC8154648 DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2020.10.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Revised: 09/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Scavenger receptors clear pathogens, transport lipid, and mediate polyanionic ligand uptake in macrophages, but their expression and role in the skin are poorly understood. Although the epidermal barrier typically excludes nucleic acid entry, topically applied, spherically arranged oligonucleotide nanoconjugates (spherical nucleic acids [SNAs]) penetrate mouse skin, three-dimensional (3D) skin equivalents, and human skin. We explored the mechanism of SNA uptake in normal human epidermal keratinocytes and 3D skin equivalents. Normal human epidermal keratinocytes and 3D raft treatment with SR-A inhibitors reduced SNA uptake by >80%. The human epidermis expresses SR-As SCARA3 and, to a lesser extent, MARCO. Simultaneous lentiviral knockdown of SCARA3 and MARCO reduced SNA uptake in normal human epidermal keratinocytes and 3D rafts after topical application, affirming a role for SR-As in SNA uptake and 3D raft penetration. Incubation of normal human epidermal keratinocytes at 4oC or with sodium azide prevented SNA uptake, suggesting active endocytosis. Endocytosis inhibitors, immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation, and knockdown studies localized functional SR-As to FLOT-1-containing lipid rafts throughout the epidermis and CAV-1-containing rafts only in the upper epidermis. These studies suggest a central role for SR-A complexes in epidermal lipid rafts in mediating the uptake of nucleic acid‒laden nanoparticles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qian Song
- Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Xiao-Qi Wang
- Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Thomas R Holmes
- Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Michael Bonkowski
- Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Eric W Roth
- Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental Center (NUANCE), Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Adam Ponedal
- Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA; International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Chad Mirkin
- International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA; Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Amy S Paller
- Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA; International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA.
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20
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Peptide-Based Nanoparticles for Therapeutic Nucleic Acid Delivery. Biomedicines 2021; 9:biomedicines9050583. [PMID: 34065544 PMCID: PMC8161338 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9050583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene therapy offers the possibility to skip, repair, or silence faulty genes or to stimulate the immune system to fight against disease by delivering therapeutic nucleic acids (NAs) to a patient. Compared to other drugs or protein treatments, NA-based therapies have the advantage of being a more universal approach to designing therapies because of the versatility of NA design. NAs (siRNA, pDNA, or mRNA) have great potential for therapeutic applications for an immense number of indications. However, the delivery of these exogenous NAs is still challenging and requires a specific delivery system. In this context, beside other non-viral vectors, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) gain more and more interest as delivery systems by forming a variety of nanocomplexes depending on the formulation conditions and the properties of the used CPPs/NAs. In this review, we attempt to cover the most important biophysical and biological aspects of non-viral peptide-based nanoparticles (PBNs) for therapeutic nucleic acid formulations as a delivery system. The most relevant peptides or peptide families forming PBNs in the presence of NAs described since 2015 will be presented. All these PBNs able to deliver NAs in vitro and in vivo have common features, which are characterized by defined formulation conditions in order to obtain PBNs from 60 nm to 150 nm with a homogeneous dispersity (PdI lower than 0.3) and a positive charge between +10 mV and +40 mV.
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21
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Desale K, Kuche K, Jain S. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs): an overview of applications for improving the potential of nanotherapeutics. Biomater Sci 2021; 9:1153-1188. [PMID: 33355322 DOI: 10.1039/d0bm01755h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
In the field of nanotherapeutics, gaining cellular entry into the cytoplasm of the target cell continues to be an ultimate challenge. There are many physicochemical factors such as charge, size and molecular weight of the molecules and delivery vehicles, which restrict their cellular entry. Hence, to dodge such situations, a class of short peptides called cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) was brought into use. CPPs can effectively interact with the cell membrane and can assist in achieving the desired intracellular entry. Such strategy is majorly employed in the field of cancer therapy and diagnosis, but now it is also used for other purposes such as evaluation of atherosclerotic plaques, determination of thrombin levels and HIV therapy. Thus, the current review expounds on each of these mentioned aspects. Further, the review briefly summarizes the basic know-how of CPPs, their utility as therapeutic molecules, their use in cancer therapy, tumor imaging and their assistance to nanocarriers in improving their membrane penetrability. The review also discusses the challenges faced with CPPs pertaining to their stability and also mentions the strategies to overcome them. Thus, in a nutshell, this review will assist in understanding how CPPs can present novel possibilities for resolving the conventional issues faced with the present-day nanotherapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kalyani Desale
- Centre for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar, Punjab-160062, India.
| | - Kaushik Kuche
- Centre for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar, Punjab-160062, India.
| | - Sanyog Jain
- Centre for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S. Nagar, Punjab-160062, India.
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22
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Transportan Peptide Stimulates the Nanomaterial Internalization into Mammalian Cells in the Bystander Manner through Macropinocytosis. Pharmaceutics 2021; 13:pharmaceutics13040552. [PMID: 33920021 PMCID: PMC8070997 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13040552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2021] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Covalent coupling with cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) has been a common strategy to facilitate the cell entry of nanomaterial and other macromolecules. Though efficient, this strategy requires chemical modifications on nanomaterials, which is not always desired for their applications. Recent studies on a few cationic CPPs have revealed that they can stimulate the cellular uptake of nanoparticles (NPs) simply via co-administration (bystander manner), which bypasses the requirement of chemical modification. In this study, we investigated the other classes of CPPs and discovered that transportan (TP) peptide, an amphiphilic CPP, also exhibited such bystander activities. When simply co-administered, TP peptide enabled the cells to engulf a variety of NPs, as well as common solute tracers, while these payloads had little or no ability to enter the cells by themselves. This result was validated in vitro and ex vivo, and TP peptide showed no physical interaction with co-administered NPs (bystander cargo). We further explored the cell entry mechanism for TP peptide and its bystander cargo, and showed that it was mediated by a receptor-dependent macropinocytosis process. Together, our findings improve the understanding of TP-assisted cell entry, and open up a new avenue to apply this peptide for nanomaterial delivery.
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23
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Tan Y, Li Y, Qu YX, Su Y, Peng Y, Zhao Z, Fu T, Wang XQ, Tan W. Aptamer-Peptide Conjugates as Targeted Chemosensitizers for Breast Cancer Treatment. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2021; 13:9436-9444. [PMID: 33306339 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c18282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
High levels of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in tumors are commonly associated with poor prognosis, enhanced doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity, and even drug resistance in DOX-related cancer chemotherapy. Several peptides possess remarkable protein inhibition and chemosensitization effects, which are attributed to their specific targeting ability against HSP70. However, the inherent poor cell penetration capacity considerably restricts the biomedical applications of these peptides. We herein describe the design and development of anti-MUC1 aptamer-peptide conjugates (ApPCs) as targeted chemosensitizers to overcome the above-mentioned issues. Moreover, DOX could be loaded on the ApPC to deliver the DOX-enclosed agent ApPC-DOX, which simultaneously acts as a targeted chemosensitizer and anticancer agent for combating drug resistance in breast cancer therapy. This innovative, engineered biocompatible conjugate not only enhances the sensitivity of DOX-resistant cells but also alleviates cardiotoxicity of DOX in vivo, highlighting the success of this targeted chemosensitizer strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Tan
- Molecular Sciences and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, and Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Yingying Li
- Molecular Sciences and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, and Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Yi-Xin Qu
- Molecular Sciences and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, and Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Yuanye Su
- Molecular Sciences and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, and Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Yongbo Peng
- Molecular Sciences and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, and Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Zilong Zhao
- Molecular Sciences and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, and Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Ting Fu
- Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, P. R. China
- The Cancer Hospital of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Basic Medicine and Cancer (IBMC), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, China
| | - Xue-Qiang Wang
- Molecular Sciences and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, and Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Weihong Tan
- Molecular Sciences and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, and Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, P. R. China
- The Cancer Hospital of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Basic Medicine and Cancer (IBMC), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, China
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24
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Abstract
Cell-Penetrating Peptides (CPP) are valuable tools capable of crossing the plasma membrane to deliver therapeutic cargo inside cells. Small interfering RNAs (siRNA) are double-stranded RNA molecules capable of silencing the expression of a specific protein triggering the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway, but they are unable to cross the plasma membrane and have a short half-life in the bloodstream. In this overview, we assessed the many different approaches used and developed in the last two decades to deliver siRNA through the plasma membrane through different CPPs sorted according to three different loading strategies: covalent conjugation, complex formation, and CPP-decorated (functionalized) nanocomplexes. Each of these strategies has pros and cons, but it appears the latter two are the most commonly reported and emerging as the most promising strategies due to their simplicity of synthesis, use, and versatility. Recent progress with siRNA delivered by CPPs seems to focus on targeted delivery to reduce side effects and amount of drugs used, and it appears to be among the most promising use for CPPs in future clinical applications.
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25
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Cerrato CP, Kivijärvi T, Tozzi R, Lehto T, Gestin M, Langel Ü. Intracellular delivery of therapeutic antisense oligonucleotides targeting mRNA coding mitochondrial proteins by cell-penetrating peptides. J Mater Chem B 2020; 8:10825-10836. [PMID: 33174901 DOI: 10.1039/d0tb01106a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Cell-penetrating peptides are a promising therapeutic strategy for a wide variety of degenerative diseases, ageing, and cancer. Among the multitude of cell-penetrating peptides, PepFect14 has been preferentially used in our laboratory for oligonucleotide delivery into cells and in vivo mouse models. However, this activity has mainly been reported towards cytoplasm and nuclei, while the mentioned disorders have been linked to mitochondrial defects. Here, we report a library generated from a combinatorial covalent fusion of a mitochondrial-penetrating peptide, mtCPP1, and PepFect14 in order to deliver therapeutic biomolecules to influence mitochondrial protein expression. The non-covalent complexation of these peptides with oligonucleotides resulted in nano-complexes affecting biological functions in the cytoplasm and on mitochondria. This delivery system proved to efficiently target mitochondrial genes, providing a framework for the development of mitochondrial peptide-based oligonucleotide technologies with the potential to be used as a treatment for patients with mitochondrial disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmine Pasquale Cerrato
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, The Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, Stockholm University, Svante Arrhenius väg 16B, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
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26
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Conjugation of Therapeutic PSD-95 Inhibitors to the Cell-Penetrating Peptide Tat Affects Blood-Brain Barrier Adherence, Uptake, and Permeation. Pharmaceutics 2020; 12:pharmaceutics12070661. [PMID: 32674358 PMCID: PMC7408072 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics12070661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Revised: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 07/10/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Novel stroke therapies are needed. Inhibition of the interaction between the postsynaptic density-95 (PSD-95)/disc large/ZO-1 (PDZ) domains of PSD-95 and the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor has been suggested as a strategy for relieving neuronal damage. The peptides NR2B9c and N-dimer have been designed to hinder this interaction; they are conjugated to the cell-penetrating peptide Tat to facilitate blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeation and neuronal uptake. Tat-N-dimer exhibits 1000-fold better target affinity than Tat-NR2B9c, but the same magnitude of improvement is not observed in terms of therapeutic effect. Differences in BBB permeation by Tat-NR2B9c and Tat-N-dimer may explain this difference, but studies providing a direct comparison of Tat-NR2B9c and Tat-N-dimer are lacking. The aim of the present study was therefore to compare the BBB uptake and permeation of Tat-NR2B9c and Tat-N-dimer. The peptides were conjugated to the fluorophore TAMRA and their chemical stability assessed. Endothelial membrane association and cell uptake, and transendothelial permeation were estimated using co-cultures of primary bovine brain capillary endothelial cells and rat astrocytes. In vivo BBB permeation was demonstrated in mice using two-photon microscopy imaging. Tissue distribution was evaluated in mice demonstrating brain accumulation of TAMRA-Tat (0.4% ID/g), TAMRA-Tat-NR2B9c (0.3% ID/g), and TAMRA-Tat-N-dimer (0.25% ID/g). In conclusion, we demonstrate that attachment of NR2B9c or N-dimer to Tat affects both the chemical stability and the ability of the resulting construct to interact with and permeate the BBB.
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27
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Padari K, Porosk L, Arukuusk P, Pooga M. Characterization of Peptide-Oligonucleotide Complexes Using Electron Microscopy, Dynamic Light Scattering, and Protease Resistance Assay. Methods Mol Biol 2020; 2036:127-139. [PMID: 31410794 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9670-4_7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Cationic peptides designed for cellular delivery of nucleic acid molecules form noncovalent nanocomplexes with negatively charged oligonucleotides (ON). The electrostatically associated complexes are further compacted by hydrophobic interactions yielding nanoparticles (NP) of homogeneous shape and size that are efficiently taken up by cells. The shape and size of NP often correlate with the biological activity of delivered ON inside cells; and the stability and accessibility of NP in biological fluids govern its circulation in organism and the cellular uptake. Therefore, here we provide protocols for characterizing the shape and size and surface charge of peptide/ON NP by negative staining transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) respectively, and analysis of NP stability against proteolytic degradation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kärt Padari
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Ly Porosk
- Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Piret Arukuusk
- Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Margus Pooga
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. .,Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
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Li Q. Nusinersen as a Therapeutic Agent for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Yonsei Med J 2020; 61:273-283. [PMID: 32233169 PMCID: PMC7105407 DOI: 10.3349/ymj.2020.61.4.273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2019] [Revised: 01/28/2020] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The reduction of survival motor neuron (SMN) protein causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an autosomal recessive neuromuscular disease. Nusinersen is an antisense oligonucleotide, approved by the FDA, which specifically binds to the repressor within SMN2 exon 7 to enhance exon 7 inclusion and augment production of functional SMN protein. Nusinersen is the first new oligonucleotide-based drug targeting the central nervous system for the treatment of SMA. This review of nusinersen will discuss its action mechanism, cellular uptake, trafficking mechanisms, and administration approaches to cross the blood-brain barrier. Furthermore, nusinersen clinical trials will be assessed in terms of pharmacokinetics, tolerability and safety, the clinical outcomes of multiple intrathecal doses, and a discussion on the primary and secondary endpoints.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Li
- Department of Function, ShiJiaZhuang Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital, ShiJiaZhuang, HeBei, China.
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29
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Borsari C, Trader DJ, Tait A, Costi MP. Designing Chimeric Molecules for Drug Discovery by Leveraging Chemical Biology. J Med Chem 2020; 63:1908-1928. [PMID: 32023055 PMCID: PMC7997565 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
After the first seed concept introduced in the 18th century, different disciplines have attributed different names to dual-functional molecules depending on their application, including bioconjugates, bifunctional compounds, multitargeting molecules, chimeras, hybrids, engineered compounds. However, these engineered constructs share a general structure: a first component that targets a specific cell and a second component that exerts the pharmacological activity. A stable or cleavable linker connects the two modules of a chimera. Herein, we discuss the recent advances in the rapidly expanding field of chimeric molecules leveraging chemical biology concepts. This Perspective is focused on bifunctional compounds in which one component is a lead compound or a drug. In detail, we discuss chemical features of chimeric molecules and their use for targeted delivery and for target engagement studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Borsari
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Mattenstrasse 28, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Darci J Trader
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Purdue University, 610 Purdue Mall, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, United States
| | - Annalisa Tait
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 103, 41125 Modena, Italy
| | - Maria P Costi
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 103, 41125 Modena, Italy
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30
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Gestin M, Helmfors H, Falato L, Lorenzon N, Michalakis FI, Langel Ü. Effect of small molecule signaling in PepFect14 transfection. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0228189. [PMID: 31999754 PMCID: PMC6992163 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2019] [Accepted: 01/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Cell-penetrating peptides can be used to deliver oligonucleotide-based cargoes into cells. Previous studies have shown that the use of small molecule drugs could be an efficient method to increase the efficacy of delivery of oligonucleotides by cell-penetrating peptides either as targeting agents that can be used in formulation with the cell-penetrating peptide and its cargo or as cell signaling modulators that facilitates the cellular uptake of the treatment. This study presents two aims. The first aim is the identification of small molecule drugs that would induce a synergic effect on the transfection of splice correcting oligonucleotides assisted by PepFect14. The second aim is to identify the mechanisms behind the effect of small molecule drugs modulation of cell-penetrating peptide assisted transfection of oligonucleotides. Through an optimized, high-throughput luciferase assay for short oligonucleotide delivery using cell-penetrating peptides, and the simultaneous addition of a small molecule drug library, we show that three small molecule drugs (MPEP, VU0357121 and Ciproxifan) induced an increase in the transfection efficacy of PepFect14 in complex with a short single-stranded oligonucleotide in HeLa pLuc705 cells. These three drugs are described in the literature to be highly specific for their respective target receptors. However, none of those receptors are expressed in our cell line, indicating a yet non-described pathway of action for these small molecules. We show that the indicated small molecules, without interfering with the particles formed by PepFect14 and the oligonucleotide, interfere via still unidentified interactions in cell signaling, leading to an up-regulation of endocytosis and a higher efficacy in the delivery of short splice correcting oligonucleotides in complex with PepFect14.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Gestin
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- * E-mail:
| | - Henrik Helmfors
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Luca Falato
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Nicola Lorenzon
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Ülo Langel
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Nooruse, Tartu, Estonia
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31
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Wu S, Gu L, Qin J, Zhang L, Sun F, Liu Z, Wang Y, Shi D. Rapid Label-Free Isolation of Circulating Tumor Cells from Patients' Peripheral Blood Using Electrically Charged Fe 3O 4 Nanoparticles. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2020; 12:4193-4203. [PMID: 31935069 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b16385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood from cancer patients bears critical importance for evaluation of therapeutic efficacy. The current CTC isolation strategies are majorly relying on either protein biomarkers or dimensional features of CTCs. In this study, we present a new methodology for CTC detection and isolation based on the surface charge of cancer cells, a bioelectrical manifestation of the "Warburg effect." Negative surface charge is a direct consequence of glycolysis of cancer cells, which can be utilized as an effective biophysical marker for CTC detection and isolation. Upon cancer cells-nanoparticle interaction via optimum incubation, serum protein-coated electrically charged nanoparticles can trap different cancer cells independent of their epithelial protein expression. In fetal bovine serum , the poly(ethyleneimine)-functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles, surface-decorated with protein corona, are able to efficiently capture CTCs from blood samples of colorectal cancer patients. 2-8 CTCs has been isolated from 1 mL of blood and identified by immunostaining fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence staining in all 25 colorectal cancer patients at varied stages, while only 0-1 CTC was detected from blood samples of 10 healthy donors. Diverse CTC subpopulations of heteroploids and biomarker expression can also be detected in this strategy. The label-free, charge-based CTC method shows promise in cancer diagnosis and prognosis paving a new path for liquid biopsy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shengming Wu
- The Institute for Translational Nanomedicine, Shanghai East Hospital, the Institute for Biomedical Engineering & Nano Science , Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai 200092 , P. R. China
| | - Lei Gu
- Department of General Surgery , Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital of Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai 200072 , P. R. China
| | - Jingwen Qin
- The Institute for Translational Nanomedicine, Shanghai East Hospital, the Institute for Biomedical Engineering & Nano Science , Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai 200092 , P. R. China
| | - Lei Zhang
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine , Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital of Tongji University , Shanghai 200072 , P. R. China
| | - Fenyong Sun
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine , Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital of Tongji University , Shanghai 200072 , P. R. China
| | - Zhongchen Liu
- Department of General Surgery , Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital of Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai 200072 , P. R. China
| | - Yilong Wang
- The Institute for Translational Nanomedicine, Shanghai East Hospital, the Institute for Biomedical Engineering & Nano Science , Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai 200092 , P. R. China
| | - Donglu Shi
- The Materials Science and Engineering Program, Dept. of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science , University of Cincinnati , Cincinnati , Ohio 45221 , United States
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32
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Zheng C, Xia E, Quan R, Bhandari A, Wang O, Hao R. Scavenger receptor class A, member 5 is associated with thyroid cancer cell lines progression via epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Cell Biochem Funct 2020; 38:158-166. [PMID: 31989658 PMCID: PMC7216911 DOI: 10.1002/cbf.3455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 08/27/2019] [Accepted: 10/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Thyroid cancer (TC) has become one of most common endocrine malignancies in recent decades. Due to gene background polymorphism, it's outcome goes quite differently in each patient. For exploring the mechanism, we performed whole transcriptome sequencing of paired papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and adjacent thyroid tissues. As a result, scavenger receptor class A member 5 (SCARA5) might be a crucial anti-oncogene associated with PTC. By RT-qPCR, we first detected the expression of SCARA5 in PTC tissue and three type of TC cell lines. Besides, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data were gathered to analysis the relationship between SCARA5 and clinical feature. A series of loss-function experiments in TC cell lines (KTC-1 and BCPAP) to investigate the function of SCARA5 in PTC. The results showed that SCARA5 expression in PTC was lower than adjacent normal tissue. And, it's consistent with the TCGA database. After analyse the correlation between SCARA5 expression and clinicopathological features in TCGA database, we discovered that downregulated SCARA5 is significantly connected age (P = .04) and tumour size (P = .032). Knockdown of SCARA5 in TC cell line could significantly increase the function of cells proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion. Furthermore, we also proved that SCARA5 could modulate the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related proteins, which influence invasion and migration. To best of our knowledge, SCARA5 is a suppressor gene which was associated with PTC and might be a potential therapeutic target in the future. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: Thyroid cancer (TC) has become one of most common endocrine malignancies in recent decades. By whole transcriptome sequencing of paired papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and adjacent thyroid tissues, author discovered that scavenger receptor class A member 5 (SCARA5) might be crucial anti-oncogene associated with PTC. Furthermore, knocking-down of SCARA5 in TC cell line can increase the function of cells proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion. Author also proved that SCARA5 could modulate the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Zheng
- Department of Thyroid and Breast SurgeryThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouZhejiangPeople's Republic of China
| | - Er‐Jie Xia
- Department of Thyroid and Breast SurgeryThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouZhejiangPeople's Republic of China
| | - Rui‐Da Quan
- Department of Thyroid and Breast SurgeryThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouZhejiangPeople's Republic of China
| | - Adheesh Bhandari
- Department of Thyroid and Breast SurgeryThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouZhejiangPeople's Republic of China
| | - Ou‐Chen Wang
- Department of Thyroid and Breast SurgeryThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouZhejiangPeople's Republic of China
| | - Ru‐Tian Hao
- Department of Thyroid and Breast SurgeryThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouZhejiangPeople's Republic of China
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33
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Ruseska I, Zimmer A. Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides. BEILSTEIN JOURNAL OF NANOTECHNOLOGY 2020; 11:101-123. [PMID: 31976201 PMCID: PMC6964662 DOI: 10.3762/bjnano.11.10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 213] [Impact Index Per Article: 53.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
In today's modern era of medicine, macromolecular compounds such as proteins, peptides and nucleic acids are dethroning small molecules as leading therapeutics. Given their immense potential, they are highly sought after. However, their application is limited mostly due to their poor in vivo stability, limited cellular uptake and insufficient target specificity. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) represent a major breakthrough for the transport of macromolecules. They have been shown to successfully deliver proteins, peptides, siRNAs and pDNA in different cell types. In general, CPPs are basic peptides with a positive charge at physiological pH. They are able to translocate membranes and gain entry to the cell interior. Nevertheless, the mechanism they use to enter cells still remains an unsolved piece of the puzzle. Endocytosis and direct penetration have been suggested as the two major mechanisms used for internalization, however, it is not all black and white in the nanoworld. Studies have shown that several CPPs are able to induce and shift between different uptake mechanisms depending on their concentration, cargo or the cell line used. This review will focus on the major internalization pathways CPPs exploit, their characteristics and regulation, as well as some of the factors that influence the cellular uptake mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivana Ruseska
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria
| | - Andreas Zimmer
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria
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34
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Sugar and Polymer Excipients Enhance Uptake and Splice-Switching Activity of Peptide-Dendrimer/Lipid/Oligonucleotide Formulations. Pharmaceutics 2019; 11:pharmaceutics11120666. [PMID: 31835435 PMCID: PMC6955847 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics11120666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2019] [Revised: 11/19/2019] [Accepted: 12/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Non-viral transfection vectors are commonly used for oligonucleotide (ON) delivery but face many challenges before reaching the desired compartments inside cells. With the support of additional compounds, it might be more feasible for a vector to endure the barriers and achieve efficient delivery. In this report, we screened 18 different excipients and evaluated their effect on the performance of peptide dendrimer/lipid vector to deliver single-stranded, splice-switching ONs under serum conditions. Transfection efficiency was monitored in four different reporter cell lines by measuring splice-switching activity on RNA and protein levels. All reporter cell lines used had a mutated human β-globin intron 2 sequence interrupting the luciferase gene, which led to an aberrant splicing of luciferase pre-mRNA and subsidence of luciferase protein translation. In the HeLa Luc/705 reporter cell line (a cervical cancer cell line), the lead excipients (Polyvinyl derivatives) potentiated the splice-switching activity up to 95-fold, compared to untreated cells with no detected cytotoxicity. Physical characterization revealed that lead excipients decreased the particle size and the zeta potential of the formulations. In vivo biodistribution studies emphasized the influence of formulations as well as the type of excipients on biodistribution profiles of the ON. Subsequently, we suggest that the highlighted impact of tested excipients would potentially assist in formulation development to deliver ON therapeutics in pre-clinical and clinical settings.
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35
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Tian Y, Zhou K, Hu J, Shan MF, Chen HJ, Cheng S, Liu LF, Mei XL. Scavenger receptor class a, member 3 is associated with severity of hand, foot, and mouth disease in a case-control study. Medicine (Baltimore) 2019; 98:e17471. [PMID: 31577778 PMCID: PMC6783241 DOI: 10.1097/md.0000000000017471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) spreads rapidly and has been recognized as a public health problem in recent years in China. Unfortunately, there is no effective vaccine or antiviral drug currently for EV71 infection. In this study, we aim to identify biomarker which are associated with for severity of EV71 infection cases using high-throughput RNA sequencing approach.RNA sequencing of samples from severe HFMD (S) patients group (n = 10) and control HFMD (C) patients group (n = 10) were performed and the results were verified by qPCR. mRNA with the highest expression level was selected to be validated in an independent cohort comprising of 45 severe EV71 infected patients and 45 control by qPCR assay.Seventeen significant differentially expressed genes were identified. Scavenger receptor class A, member 3 (SCARA3) was one of the significantly upregulated genes with the highest expression level and was selected for validation. The mean relative expression levels in severe HFMD and control HFMD patients were 10.1-fold and 5.0-fold, respectively, P value <.001.We found that SCARA3 is associated with severity of HFMD, and it may be a potential prognostic marker to predict the HFMD progression in EV71 infected patients.
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36
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Han G, Gu B, Lin C, Ning H, Song J, Gao X, Moulton HM, Yin H. Hexose Potentiates Peptide-Conjugated Morpholino Oligomer Efficacy in Cardiac Muscles of Dystrophic Mice in an Age-Dependent Manner. MOLECULAR THERAPY. NUCLEIC ACIDS 2019; 18:341-350. [PMID: 31629961 PMCID: PMC6807288 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2019.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Revised: 09/14/2019] [Accepted: 09/14/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Insufficient delivery of oligonucleotides to muscle and heart remains a barrier for clinical implementation of antisense oligonucleotide (AO)-mediated exon-skipping therapeutics in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a lethal monogenic disorder caused by frame-disrupting mutations in the DMD gene. We previously demonstrated that hexose, particularly an equal mix of glucose:fructose (GF), significantly enhanced oligonucleotide delivery and exon-skipping activity in peripheral muscles of mdx mice; however, its efficacy in the heart remains limited. Here we show that co-administration of GF with peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PPMO, namely, BMSP-PMO) induced an approximately 2-fold higher level of dystrophin expression in cardiac muscles of adult mdx mice compared to BMSP-PMO in saline at a single injection of 20 mg/kg, resulting in evident phenotypic improvement in dystrophic mdx hearts without any detectable toxicity. Dystrophin expression in peripheral muscles also increased. However, GF failed to potentiate BMSP-PMO efficiency in aged mdx mice. These findings demonstrate that GF is applicable to both PMO and PPMO. Furthermore, GF potentiates oligonucleotide activity in mdx mice in an age-dependent manner, and, thus, it has important implications for its clinical deployment for the treatment of DMD and other muscular disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Han
- School of Medical Laboratory and Department of Cell Biology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Ben Gu
- School of Medical Laboratory and Department of Cell Biology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Caorui Lin
- School of Medical Laboratory and Department of Cell Biology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Hanhan Ning
- School of Medical Laboratory and Department of Cell Biology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Jun Song
- School of Medical Laboratory and Department of Cell Biology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Xianjun Gao
- School of Medical Laboratory and Department of Cell Biology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Hong M Moulton
- Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - HaiFang Yin
- School of Medical Laboratory and Department of Cell Biology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China.
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37
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Wei Y, Tang T, Pang HB. Cellular internalization of bystander nanomaterial induced by TAT-nanoparticles and regulated by extracellular cysteine. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3646. [PMID: 31409778 PMCID: PMC6692393 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11631-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2018] [Accepted: 07/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Entry into cells is necessary for many nanomaterial applications, and a common solution is to functionalize nanoparticles (NPs) with cell-penetrating ligands. Despite intensive studies on these functionalized NPs, little is known about their effect on cellular activities to engulf other cargo from the nearby environment. Here, we use NPs functionalized with TAT (transactivator of transcription) peptide (T-NPs) as an example to investigate their impact on cellular uptake of bystander cargo. We find that T-NP internalization enables cellular uptake of bystander NPs, but not common fluid markers, through a receptor-dependent macropinocytosis pathway. Moreover, the activity of this bystander uptake is stimulated by cysteine presence in the surrounding solution. The cargo selectivity and cysteine regulation are further demonstrated ex vivo and in vivo. These findings reveal another mechanism for NP entry into cells and open up an avenue of studying the interplay among endocytosis, amino acids, and nanomaterial delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yushuang Wei
- Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.,Cancer Center, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Tang Tang
- Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.,Cancer Center, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Hong-Bo Pang
- Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. .,Cancer Center, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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38
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Kruk M, Widstrom N, Jena S, Wolter NL, Blankenhorn JF, Abdalla I, Yang TY, Parker LL. Assays for tyrosine phosphorylation in human cells. Methods Enzymol 2019; 626:375-406. [PMID: 31606083 DOI: 10.1016/bs.mie.2019.06.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Tyrosine kinases are important for many cellular processes and disruption of their regulation is a factor in diseases like cancer, therefore they are a major target of anticancer drugs. There are many ways to measure tyrosine kinase activity in cells by monitoring endogenous substrate phosphorylation, or by using peptide substrates and incubating them with cell lysates containing active kinases. However, most of these strategies rely on antibodies and/or are limited in how accurately they model the intracellular environment. In cases in which activity needs to be measured in cells, but endogenous substrates are not known and/or suitable phosphospecific antibodies are not available, cell-deliverable peptide substrates can be an alternative and can provide information on activation and inhibition of kinases in intact, live cells. In this chapter, we review this methodology and provide a protocol for measuring Abl kinase activity in human cells using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with a generic antiphosphotyrosine antibody for detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica Kruk
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Naomi Widstrom
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Sampreeti Jena
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Nicole L Wolter
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - John F Blankenhorn
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Ibrahim Abdalla
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Tzu-Yi Yang
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Laurie L Parker
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
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39
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Peptide-conjugate antisense based splice-correction for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular diseases. EBioMedicine 2019; 45:630-645. [PMID: 31257147 PMCID: PMC6642283 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.06.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2019] [Revised: 05/31/2019] [Accepted: 06/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration, caused by the absence of dystrophin. Exon skipping by antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) has recently gained recognition as therapeutic approach in DMD. Conjugation of a peptide to the phosphorodiamidate morpholino backbone (PMO) of ASOs generated the peptide-conjugated PMOs (PPMOs) that exhibit a dramatically improved pharmacokinetic profile. When tested in animal models, PPMOs demonstrate effective exon skipping in target muscles and prolonged duration of dystrophin restoration after a treatment regime. Herein we summarize the main pathophysiological features of DMD and the emergence of PPMOs as promising exon skipping agents aiming to rescue defective gene expression in DMD and other neuromuscular diseases. The listed PPMO laboratory findings correspond to latest trends in the field and highlight the obstacles that must be overcome prior to translating the animal-based research into clinical trials tailored to the needs of patients suffering from neuromuscular diseases.
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40
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Scavenger Receptor Class A1 Mediates Uptake of Morpholino Antisense Oligonucleotide into Dystrophic Skeletal Muscle. MOLECULAR THERAPY. NUCLEIC ACIDS 2019; 14:520-535. [PMID: 30763772 PMCID: PMC6374502 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2019.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2018] [Revised: 01/17/2019] [Accepted: 01/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Exon skipping using phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) is a promising treatment strategy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The most significant limitation of these clinically used compounds is their lack of delivery systems that target muscles; thus, cell-penetrating peptides are being developed to enhance uptake into muscles. Recently, we reported that uptake of peptide-conjugated PMOs into myofibers was mediated by scavenger receptor class A (SR-A), which binds negatively charged ligands. However, the mechanism by which the naked PMOs are taken up into fibers is poorly understood. In this study, we found that PMO uptake and exon-skipping efficiency were promoted in dystrophin-deficient myotubes via endocytosis through a caveolin-dependent pathway. Interestingly, SR-A1 was upregulated and localized in juxtaposition with caveolin-3 in these myotubes and promoted PMO-induced exon skipping. SR-A1 was also upregulated in the skeletal muscle of mdx52 mice and mediated PMO uptake. In addition, PMOs with neutral backbones had negative zeta potentials owing to their nucleobase compositions and interacted with SR-A1. In conclusion, PMOs with negative zeta potential were taken up into dystrophin-deficient skeletal muscle by upregulated SR-A1. Therefore, the development of a drug delivery system targeting SR-A1 could lead to highly efficient exon-skipping therapies for DMD.
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41
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Tansi FL, Filatova MP, Koroev DO, Volpina OM, Lange S, Schumann C, Teichgräber UK, Reissmann S, Hilger I. New generation CPPs show distinct selectivity for cancer and noncancer cells. J Cell Biochem 2018; 120:6528-6541. [DOI: 10.1002/jcb.27943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2018] [Accepted: 10/02/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Felista L. Tansi
- Department of Experimental Radiology, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology Jena University Hospital Jena Germany
| | - Margarita P. Filatova
- Shemyakin‐Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Russia
| | - Dmitri O. Koroev
- Shemyakin‐Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Russia
| | - Olga M. Volpina
- Shemyakin‐Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Russia
| | | | | | - Ulf K. Teichgräber
- Department of Experimental Radiology, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology Jena University Hospital Jena Germany
| | - Siegmund Reissmann
- Jena Bioscience GmbH Jena Germany
- Centrum of Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Friedrich‐Schiller‐University Jena Germany
| | - Ingrid Hilger
- Department of Experimental Radiology, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology Jena University Hospital Jena Germany
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42
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Keller AA, Scheiding B, Breitling R, Licht A, Hemmerich P, Lorkowski S, Reissmann S. Transduction and transfection of difficult-to-transfect cells: Systematic attempts for the transfection of protozoa Leishmania. J Cell Biochem 2018; 120:14-27. [PMID: 30216507 DOI: 10.1002/jcb.27463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Accepted: 07/25/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are used to internalize different cargoes, including DNA, into live mammalian and plant cells. Despite many cells being easily transfected with this approach, other cells are rather "difficult" or "hard to transfect," including protist cells of the genus Leishmania. Based on our previous results in successfully internalizing proteins into Leishmania tarentolae cells, we used single CPPs and three different DNA-binding proteins to form protein-like complexes with plasmids covered with CPPs. We attempted magnetofection, electroporation, and transfection using a number of commercially available detergents. While complex formation with negatively charged DNA required substantially higher amounts of CPPs than those necessary for mostly neutral proteins, the cytotoxicity of the required amounts of CPPs and auxiliaries was thoroughly studied. We found that Leishmania cells were indeed susceptible to high concentrations of some CPPs and auxiliaries, although in a different manner compared with that for mammalian cells. The lack of successful transfections implies the necessity to accept certain general limitations regarding DNA internalization into difficult-to-transfect cells. Only electroporation allowed reproducible internalization of large and rigid plasmid DNA molecules through electrically disturbed extended membrane areas, known as permeable membrane macrodomains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea-Anneliese Keller
- Friedrich Schiller University, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute of Nutritional Sciences and Abbe Centre of Photonics, Jena, Germany
| | - Berith Scheiding
- Friedrich Schiller University, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute of Nutritional Sciences and Abbe Centre of Photonics, Jena, Germany
| | | | | | - Peter Hemmerich
- Leibniz Institute for Aging Research, Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany
| | - Stefan Lorkowski
- Friedrich Schiller University, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute of Nutritional Sciences and Abbe Centre of Photonics, Jena, Germany.,Competence Cluster for Nutrition and Cardiovascular Health (nutriCARD), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Siegmund Reissmann
- Friedrich Schiller University, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Jena, Germany
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43
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Saher O, Rocha CSJ, Zaghloul EM, Wiklander OPB, Zamolo S, Heitz M, Ezzat K, Gupta D, Reymond JL, Zain R, Hollfelder F, Darbre T, Lundin KE, El Andaloussi S, Smith CIE. Novel peptide-dendrimer/lipid/oligonucleotide ternary complexes for efficient cellular uptake and improved splice-switching activity. Eur J Pharm Biopharm 2018; 132:29-40. [PMID: 30193928 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2018.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2018] [Revised: 08/15/2018] [Accepted: 09/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Despite the advances in gene therapy and in oligonucleotide (ON) chemistry, efficient cellular delivery remains an obstacle. Most current transfection reagents suffer from low efficacy or high cytotoxicity. In this report, we describe the synergism between lipid and dendrimer delivery vectors to enhance the transfection efficiency, while avoiding high toxicity. We screened a library of 20 peptide dendrimers representing three different generations and evaluated their capability to deliver a single-stranded splice-switching ON after formulating with lipids (DOTMA/DOPE). The transfection efficiency was analyzed in 5 reporter cell lines, in serum-free and serum conditions, and with 5 different formulation protocols. All formulations displayed low cytotoxicity to the majority of the tested cell lines. The complex sizes were < 200 nm; particle size distributions of effective mixtures were < 80 nm; and, the zeta potential was dependent on the formulation buffer used. The best dendrimer enhanced transfection in a HeLa reporter cell line by 30-fold compared to untreated cells under serum-free conditions. Interestingly, addition of sucrose to the formulation enabled - for the first time - peptide dendrimers/lipid complexes to efficiently deliver splice-switching ON in the presence of serum, reaching 40-fold increase in splice switching. Finally, in vivo studies highlighted the potential of these formulae to change the biodistribution pattern to be more towards the liver (90% of injected dose) compared to the kidneys (5% of injected dose) or to unformulated ON. This success encourages further development of peptide dendrimer complexes active in serum and future investigation of mechanisms behind the influence of additives on transfection efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osama Saher
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden; Department Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
| | - Cristina S J Rocha
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Eman M Zaghloul
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Oscar P B Wiklander
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Susanna Zamolo
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Marc Heitz
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Kariem Ezzat
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Dhanu Gupta
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Jean-Louis Reymond
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Rula Zain
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden; Department of Clinical Genetics, Centre for Rare Diseases, Karolinska University Hospital, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Florian Hollfelder
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge 80 Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1GA, UK
| | - Tamis Darbre
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Karin E Lundin
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Samir El Andaloussi
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - C I Edvard Smith
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden.
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44
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Ulker D, Ersoy YE, Gucin Z, Muslumanoglu M, Buyru N. Downregulation of SCARA5 may contribute to breast cancer via promoter hypermethylation. Gene 2018; 673:102-106. [PMID: 29908284 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2018.06.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2018] [Revised: 05/22/2018] [Accepted: 06/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women worldwide. Breast tumors mostly exhibit aberrant gene expression and DNA hypermethylation patterns that predispose the disease. Understanding the genetic and epigenetic factors that contribute to breast cancer development is important to identify novel diagnostic and prognostic markers. SCARA5: Scavenger receptor class A, member 5; is a member of the scavenger receptor family located on chromosome 8p21 which is a frequently deleted region in human cancers. SCARA5 has been identified as a candidate tumor suppressor gene in various kinds of cancer. However, its role in breast cancer remains unclear. Therefore, in the present study SCARA5 expression levels in breast tumors and matched noncancerous tissue samples from 77 patients were analyzed by qRT-PCR and the expression levels were correlated with the methylation level of SCARA5 gene promoter. We found that SCARA5 expression was significantly decreased in tumors (92.2%) compared to non-cancerous tissue samples and this down-regulation was associated with hypermethylation of the promoter (p < 0.001). A significant correlation was also detected between SCARA5 expression and the histological grade of the breast tumors (p = 0.017). Taken together, our results indicate that SCARA5 may play an important role in tumorigenesis of breast cancer via promoter methylation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damla Ulker
- Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Biology, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Yeliz Emine Ersoy
- Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Department of General Surgery, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Zuhal Gucin
- Bezmialem Vakıf University, Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Pathology, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Mahmut Muslumanoglu
- Istanbul University, Capa Medical Faculty, Department of General Surgery, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Nur Buyru
- Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Biology, Istanbul, Turkey.
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45
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Srimanee A, Arvanitidou M, Kim K, Hällbrink M, Langel Ü. Cell-penetrating peptides for siRNA delivery to glioblastomas. Peptides 2018; 104:62-69. [PMID: 29684592 DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2018.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2018] [Revised: 03/30/2018] [Accepted: 04/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) to suppress glioblastoma growth is a hurdle due to the critical obstacles of the blood-brain barrier and the siRNA properties of such as high negative charges and instability in serum. Therefore, the passage of siRNA to targeted cells is limited. Several siRNA carriers have been constructed using cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) since the CPPs have shown a high potential for oligonucleotide delivery into the cells. In this study, two CPPs, PepFect 14 (PF14) and the amphipathic peptide PepFect 28 (PF28), were modified with targeting peptides by covalent conjugation and non-covalent complex formation to improve glioma-targeted specificity and gene-silencing efficiency. In conclusion, we have established an efficient non-covalently complexed carrier (PF14:TG1) for siRNA delivery to human glioblastoma cells (U87), showing a significant two-fold increase in gene-silencing efficiency compared to the parent peptide PF14 and also improved specificity to U87 cells compared to non-glioma targeted cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Artita Srimanee
- Department of Neurochemistry, The Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Maria Arvanitidou
- Department of Neurochemistry, The Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Kumjee Kim
- Department of Neurochemistry, The Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mattias Hällbrink
- Department of Neurochemistry, The Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ülo Langel
- Department of Neurochemistry, The Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden; Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, 50411, Tartu, Estonia.
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46
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Cell-Penetrating Peptides to Enhance Delivery of Oligonucleotide-Based Therapeutics. Biomedicines 2018; 6:biomedicines6020051. [PMID: 29734750 PMCID: PMC6027240 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines6020051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2018] [Revised: 04/21/2018] [Accepted: 05/03/2018] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The promise of nucleic acid based oligonucleotides as effective genetic therapies has been held back by their low bioavailability and poor cellular uptake to target tissues upon systemic administration. One such strategy to improve upon delivery is the use of short cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) that can be either directly attached to their cargo through covalent linkages or through the formation of noncovalent nanoparticle complexes that can facilitate cellular uptake. In this review, we will highlight recent proof-of-principle studies that have utilized both of these strategies to improve nucleic acid delivery and discuss the prospects for translation of this approach for clinical application.
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47
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Simultaneous membrane interaction of amphipathic peptide monomers, self-aggregates and cargo complexes detected by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES 2018; 1860:491-504. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.09.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2017] [Revised: 09/05/2017] [Accepted: 09/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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48
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Yu Z, Ye J, Pei X, Sun L, Liu E, Wang J, Huang Y, Lee SJ, He H. Improved method for synthesis of low molecular weight protamine-siRNA conjugate. Acta Pharm Sin B 2018; 8:116-126. [PMID: 29872628 PMCID: PMC5985694 DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2017.11.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2017] [Revised: 09/21/2017] [Accepted: 11/10/2017] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
RNAi technology has aroused wide public interest due to its high efficiency and specificity to treat multiple types of diseases. However, the effective delivery of siRNA remains a challenge due to its large molecular weight and strong anionic charge. Considering their remarkable functions in vivo and features that are often desired in drug delivery carriers, biomimetic systems for siRNA delivery become an effective and promising strategy. Based on this, covalent attachment of synthetic cell penetrating peptides (CPP) to siRNA has become of great interest. We developed a monomeric covalent conjugate of low molecular weight protamine (LMWP, a well-established CPP) and siRNA via a cytosol-cleavable disulfide linkage using PEG as a crosslinker. Results showed that the conjugates didn't generate coagulation, and exhibited much better RNAi potency and intracellular delivery compared with the conventional charge-complexed CPP/siRNA aggregates. Three different synthetic and purification methods were compared in order to optimize synthesis efficiency and product yield. The methodology using hetero-bifunctional NHS–PEG–OPSS as a crosslinker to synthesize LMWP–siRNA simplified the synthesis and purification process and produced the highest yield. These results pave the way towards siRNA biomimetic delivery and future clinical translation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhili Yu
- Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Junxiao Ye
- College of Pharmacy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Xing Pei
- Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Lu Sun
- Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Ergang Liu
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
| | - Jianxin Wang
- Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery, Ministry of Education & PLA, Shanghai 201201, China
- Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Ministry of Education & PLA, Shanghai 201201, China
| | - Yongzhuo Huang
- Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Seung Jin Lee
- Department of Pharmacy, Ewha Womans University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-750, Republic of Korea
| | - Huining He
- Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
- Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 22 83336658.
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49
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Zhu D, Yan H, Zhou Z, Tang J, Liu X, Hartmann R, Parak WJ, Feliu N, Shen Y. Detailed investigation on how the protein corona modulates the physicochemical properties and gene delivery of polyethylenimine (PEI) polyplexes. Biomater Sci 2018; 6:1800-1817. [DOI: 10.1039/c8bm00128f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Given the various cationic polymers developed as non-viral gene delivery vectors, polyethylenimine (PEI) has been/is frequently used in in vitro transfection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dingcheng Zhu
- Center for Bionanoengineering and Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education
- College of Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Zhejiang University
- China
- Fachbereich Physik
| | - Huijie Yan
- Center for Bionanoengineering and Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education
- College of Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Zhejiang University
- China
- Fachbereich Physik
| | - Zhuxian Zhou
- Center for Bionanoengineering and Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education
- College of Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Zhejiang University
- China
| | - Jianbin Tang
- Center for Bionanoengineering and Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education
- College of Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Zhejiang University
- China
| | - Xiangrui Liu
- Center for Bionanoengineering and Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education
- College of Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Zhejiang University
- China
| | | | - Wolfgang J. Parak
- Fachbereich Physik
- Philipps Universität Marburg
- Germany
- Fachbereich Physik und Chemie and CHyN
- Universität Hamburg
| | - Neus Feliu
- Fachbereich Physik
- Philipps Universität Marburg
- Germany
- Fachbereich Physik und Chemie and CHyN
- Universität Hamburg
| | - Youqing Shen
- Center for Bionanoengineering and Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education
- College of Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Zhejiang University
- China
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50
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Godfrey C, Desviat LR, Smedsrød B, Piétri-Rouxel F, Denti MA, Disterer P, Lorain S, Nogales-Gadea G, Sardone V, Anwar R, El Andaloussi S, Lehto T, Khoo B, Brolin C, van Roon-Mom WM, Goyenvalle A, Aartsma-Rus A, Arechavala-Gomeza V. Delivery is key: lessons learnt from developing splice-switching antisense therapies. EMBO Mol Med 2017; 9:545-557. [PMID: 28289078 PMCID: PMC5412803 DOI: 10.15252/emmm.201607199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The use of splice‐switching antisense therapy is highly promising, with a wealth of pre‐clinical data and numerous clinical trials ongoing. Nevertheless, its potential to treat a variety of disorders has yet to be realized. The main obstacle impeding the clinical translation of this approach is the relatively poor delivery of antisense oligonucleotides to target tissues after systemic delivery. We are a group of researchers closely involved in the development of these therapies and would like to communicate our discussions concerning the validity of standard methodologies currently used in their pre‐clinical development, the gaps in current knowledge and the pertinent challenges facing the field. We therefore make recommendations in order to focus future research efforts and facilitate a wider application of therapeutic antisense oligonucleotides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Godfrey
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lourdes R Desviat
- Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa UAM-CSIC, CIBERER, IdiPaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Bård Smedsrød
- Department of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Michela A Denti
- Centre for Integrative Biology, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Petra Disterer
- Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK
| | - Stéphanie Lorain
- UPMC, INSERM, UMRS 974, CNRS FRE 3617, Institut de Myologie, Paris, France
| | - Gisela Nogales-Gadea
- Grup d'Investigació en Malalties Neuromusculars i Neuropediatriques, Institut d' Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona Barcelona, Spain
| | - Valentina Sardone
- Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre and Developmental Neuroscience Programme, Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK
| | - Rayan Anwar
- Drug Discovery Informatics Lab, Qasemi-Research Center, Al-Qasemi Academic College, Baka El-Garbiah, Israel.,Drug Discovery and Development Laboratory, Institute of Applied Research, Galilee Society, Shefa-Amr, Israel
| | - Samir El Andaloussi
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Taavi Lehto
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.,Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Bernard Khoo
- Centre for Neuroendocrinology, Division of Medicine, University College London, London, UK
| | - Camilla Brolin
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Aurélie Goyenvalle
- INSERM U1179, UFR des sciences de la santé, Université Versailles Saint Quentin, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France
| | - Annemieke Aartsma-Rus
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
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