The Formation of Nanoparticles between Small Interfering RNA and Amphipathic Cell-Penetrating Peptides

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are delivery vectors widely used to aid the transport of biologically active cargoes to intracellular targets. These cargoes include small interfering RNAs (siRNA) that are not naturally internalized by cells. Elucidating the complexities behind the formation of CPP and cargo complexes is crucial for understanding the processes related to their delivery. In this study, we used modified analogs of the CPP transportan10 and investigated the binding properties of these CPPs to siRNA, the formation parameters of the CPP/siRNA complexes, and their stabiliy to enzymatic degradation. We conclude that the pH dependent change of the net charge of the CPP may very well be the key factor leading to the high delivery efficiency and the optimal binding strength between CPPs to siRNAs, while the hydrophobicity, secondary structure of the CPP, and the positions of the positive charges are responsible for the stability of the CPP/siRNA particles. Also, CPPs with distinct hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions may assemble into nanoparticles that could be described as core-shell formulations

Methods to follow intracellular trafficking of cell-penetrating peptides

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are efficient vehicles to transport bioactive molecules into the cells. Despite numerous studies the exact mechanism by which CPPs facilitate delivery of cargo to its intracellular target is still debated. The current work presents methods that can be used for tracking CPP/pDNA complexes through endosomal transport and show the role of endosomal transport in the delivery of cargo. Separation of endosomal vesicles by differential centrifugation enables to pinpoint the localization of delivered cargo without labeling it and gives important quantitative information about pDNA trafficing in certain endosomal compartments. Single particle tracking (SPT) allows following individual CPP/cargo complex through endosomal path in live cells, using fluoresently labled cargo and green fluoresent protein expressing cells. These two different methods show similar results about tested NickFect/pDNA complexes intracellular trafficing. NF51 facilitates rapid internalization of complexes into the cells, prolongs their stay in early endosomes and promotes release to cytosol. NF1 is less capable to induce endosomal release and higher amount of complexes are routed to lysosomes for degradation. Our findings offer potential delivery vector for in vivo applications, NF51, where endosomal entrapment has been allayed. Furthermore, these methods are valuable tools to study other CPP-based delivery systems

Cell-Penetrating Peptide and siRNA-Mediated Therapeutic Effects on Endometriosis and Cancer In Vitro Models

Gene therapy is a powerful tool for the development of new treatment strategies for various conditions, by aiming to transport biologically active nucleic acids into diseased cells. To achieve that goal, we used highly potential delivery vectors, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), as oligonucleotide carriers for the development of a therapeutic approach for endometriosis and cancer. Despite marked differences, both of these conditions still exhibit similarities, like excessive, uncoordinated, and autonomous cellular proliferation and invasion, accompanied by overlapping gene expression patterns. Thus, in the current study, we investigated the therapeutic effects of CPP and siRNA nanoparticles using in vitro models of benign endometriosis and malignant glioblastoma. We demonstrated that CPPs PepFect6 and NickFect70 are highly effective in transfecting cell lines, primary cell cultures, and three-dimensional spheroids. CPP nanoparticles are capable of inducing siRNA-specific knockdown of therapeutic genes, ribonucleotide reductase subunit M2 (RRM2), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which results in the reduction of in vitro cellular proliferation, invasion, and migration. In addition, we proved that it is possible to achieve synergistic suppression of endometriosis cellular proliferation and invasion by combining gene therapy and hormonal treatment approaches by co-administering CPP/siRNA nanoparticles together with the endometriosis-drug danazol. We suggest a novel target, RRM2, for endometriosis therapy and as a proof-of-concept, we propose a CPP-mediated gene therapy approach for endometriosis and cancer

Formulation of Stable and Homogeneous Cell-Penetrating Peptide NF55 Nanoparticles for Efficient Gene Delivery In Vivo

Although advances in genomics and experimental gene therapy have opened new possibilities for treating otherwise incurable diseases, the transduction of nucleic acids into the cells and delivery in vivo remain challenging. The high molecular weight and anionic nature of nucleic acids require their packing into nanoparticles for the delivery. The efficacy of nanoparticle drugs necessitates the high bioactivity of constituents, but their distribution in organisms is mostly governed by the physical properties of nanoparticles, and therefore, generation of stable particles with strictly defined characteristics is highly essential. Using previously designed efficient cell-penetrating peptide NF55, we searched for strategies enabling control over the nanoparticle formation and properties to further improve transfection efficacy. The size of the NF55/pDNA nanoparticles correlates with the concentration of its constituents at the beginning of assembly, but characteristics of nanoparticles measured by DLS do not reliably predict the applicability of particles in in vivo studies. We introduce a new formulation approach called cryo-concentration, where we acquired stable and homogeneous nanoparticles for administration in vivo. The cryo-concentrated NF55/pDNA nanoparticles exhibit several advantages over standard formulation: They have long shelf-life and do not aggregate after reconstitution, have excellent stability against enzymatic degradation, and show significantly higher bioactivity in vivo

Methods to follow intracellular trafficking of cell-penetrating peptides

<p>Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are efficient vehicles to transport bioactive molecules into the cells. Despite numerous studies the exact mechanism by which CPPs facilitate delivery of cargo to its intracellular target is still debated. The current work presents methods that can be used for tracking CPP/pDNA complexes through endosomal transport and show the role of endosomal transport in the delivery of cargo. Separation of endosomal vesicles by differential centrifugation enables to pinpoint the localization of delivered cargo without labeling it and gives important quantitative information about pDNA trafficing in certain endosomal compartments. Single particle tracking (SPT) allows following individual CPP/cargo complex through endosomal path in live cells, using fluoresently labled cargo and green fluoresent protein expressing cells. These two different methods show similar results about tested NickFect/pDNA complexes intracellular trafficing. NF51 facilitates rapid internalization of complexes into the cells, prolongs their stay in early endosomes and promotes release to cytosol. NF1 is less capable to induce endosomal release and higher amount of complexes are routed to lysosomes for degradation. Our findings offer potential delivery vector for <i>in vivo</i> applications, NF51, where endosomal entrapment has been allayed. Furthermore, these methods are valuable tools to study other CPP-based delivery systems.</p

Predicting Transiently Expressed Protein Yields: Comparison of Transfection Methods in CHO and HEK293

Therapeutic proteins are currently at the apex of innovation in pharmaceutical medicine. However, their industrial production is technically challenging and improved methods for transient transfection of mammalian cell cultures are necessary. We aimed to find a fast, microliter-scale transfection assay that allows the prediction of protein expression in the transient production settings. We used an array of lipid, polymeric and cell-penetrating peptide transfection reagents, and compared their performance in various high throughput transfection assays to their performance in protein (antibody) expression in professional protein-producer cell lines. First, we show that some of the most frequently used microliter-scale transfection efficacy assays fail to predict performance in the protein production in milliliter and liter scale settings. We found that CHO suspension culture post-transfection EGFP(+) population and SEAP quantitation correlate with large-scale protein production, whereas the adhesion culture assays and transfection of pLuc are non-predictive. Second, we demonstrated that cell-penetrating peptide-based transfection achieves significantly higher protein yields compared to PEI and lipoplex methods in both CHO and HEK293 producer cell lines. In this work we demonstrate a CPP-based transient protein expression approach that significantly outperformed the current industry standard workhorse method of PEI