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Jackson MA, Bedingfield SK, Yu F, Stokan ME, Miles RE, Curvino EJ, Hoogenboezem EN, Bonami RH, Patel SS, Kendall PL, Giorgio TD, Duvall CL. Dual carrier-cargo hydrophobization and charge ratio optimization improve the systemic circulation and safety of zwitterionic nano-polyplexes. Biomaterials 2019; 192:245-259. [PMID: 30458360 PMCID: PMC6534819 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Revised: 11/08/2018] [Accepted: 11/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
While polymeric nano-formulations for RNAi therapeutics hold great promise for molecularly-targeted, personalized medicine, they possess significant systemic delivery challenges including rapid clearance from circulation and the potential for carrier-associated toxicity due to cationic polymer or lipid components. Herein, we evaluated the in vivo pharmacokinetic and safety impact of often-overlooked formulation parameters, including the ratio of carrier polymer to cargo siRNA and hydrophobic siRNA modification in combination with hydrophobic polymer components (dual hydrophobization). For these studies, we used nano-polyplexes (NPs) with well-shielded, zwitterionic coronas, resulting in various NP formulations of equivalent hydrodynamic size and neutral surface charge regardless of charge ratio. Doubling nano-polyplex charge ratio from 10 to 20 increased circulation half-life five-fold and pharmacokinetic area under the curve four-fold, but was also associated with increased liver enzymes, a marker of hepatic damage. Dual hydrophobization achieved by formulating NPs with palmitic acid-modified siRNA (siPA-NPs) both reduced the amount of carrier polymer required to achieve optimal pharmacokinetic profiles and abrogated liver toxicities. We also show that optimized zwitterionic siPA-NPs are well-tolerated upon long-term, repeated administration in mice and exhibit greater than two-fold increased uptake in orthotopic MDA-MB-231 xenografts compared to commercial transfection reagent, in vivo-jetPEI®. These data suggest that charge ratio optimization has important in vivo implications and that dual hydrophobization strategies can be used to maximize both NP circulation time and safety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meredith A. Jackson
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Sean K. Bedingfield
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Fang Yu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Mitchell E. Stokan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Rachel E. Miles
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | | | | | - Rachel H. Bonami
- Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Shrusti S. Patel
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Peggy L. Kendall
- Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Todd D. Giorgio
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Craig L. Duvall
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA,Corresponding author. (C.L. Duvall)
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