1
|
Wilson K, Manner C, Miranda E, Berrio A, Wray GA, McClay DR. An RNA interference approach for functional studies in the sea urchin and its use in analysis of nodal signaling gradients. Dev Biol 2024; 516:59-70. [PMID: 39098630 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2024.08.002] [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: 04/07/2024] [Revised: 07/31/2024] [Accepted: 08/02/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024]
Abstract
Dicer substrate interfering RNAs (DsiRNAs) destroy targeted transcripts using the RNA-Induced Silencing Complex (RISC) through a process called RNA interference (RNAi). This process is ubiquitous among eukaryotes. Here we report the utility of DsiRNA in embryos of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus (Lv). Specific knockdowns phenocopy known morpholino and inhibitor knockdowns, and DsiRNA offers a useful alternative to morpholinos. Methods are described for the design of specific DsiRNAs that lead to destruction of targeted mRNA. DsiRNAs directed against pks1, an enzyme necessary for pigment production, show how successful DsiRNA perturbations are monitored by RNA in situ analysis and by qPCR to determine relative destruction of targeted mRNA. DsiRNA-based knockdowns phenocopy morpholino- and drug-based inhibition of nodal and lefty. Other knockdowns demonstrate that the RISC operates early in development as well as on genes that are first transcribed hours after gastrulation is completed. Thus, DsiRNAs effectively mediate destruction of targeted mRNA in the sea urchin embryo. The approach offers significant advantages over other widely used methods in the urchin in terms of cost, and ease of procurement, and offers sizeable experimental advantages in terms of ease of handling, injection, and knockdown validation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Keen Wilson
- University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash College, Biology Dept. 9555 Plainfield Rd., Blue Ash, Ohio; Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Carl Manner
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | | | | | | | - David R McClay
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Direct Comparison of Chol-siRNA Polyplexes and Chol-DsiRNA Polyplexes Targeting STAT3 in a Syngeneic Murine Model of TNBC. Noncoding RNA 2022; 8:ncrna8010008. [PMID: 35076584 PMCID: PMC8788547 DOI: 10.3390/ncrna8010008] [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: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 01/06/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
RNA interference (RNAi) molecules have tremendous potential for cancer therapy but are limited by insufficient potency after intravenous (IV) administration. We previously found that polymer complexes (polyplexes) formed between 3′-cholesterol-modified siRNA (Chol-siRNA) or DsiRNA (Chol-DsiRNA) and the cationic diblock copolymer PLL[30]-PEG[5K] greatly increase RNAi potency against stably expressed LUC mRNA in primary syngeneic murine breast tumors after daily IV dosing. Chol-DsiRNA polyplexes, however, maintain LUC mRNA suppression for ~48 h longer after the final dose than Chol-siRNA polyplexes, which suggests that they are the better candidate formulation. Here, we directly compared the activities of Chol-siRNA polyplexes and Chol-DsiRNA polyplexes in primary murine 4T1 breast tumors against STAT3, a therapeutically relevant target gene that is overexpressed in many solid tumors, including breast cancer. We found that Chol-siSTAT3 polyplexes suppressed STAT3 mRNA in 4T1 tumors with similar potency (half-maximal ED50 0.3 mg/kg) and kinetics (over 96 h) as Chol-DsiSTAT3 polyplexes, but with slightly lower activity against total Stat3 protein (29% vs. 42% suppression) and tumor growth (11.5% vs. 8.6% rate-based T/C ratio) after repeated IV administration of equimolar, tumor-saturating doses every other day. Thus, both Chol-siRNA polyplexes and Chol-DsiRNA polyplexes may be suitable clinical candidates for the RNAi therapy of breast cancer and other solid tumors.
Collapse
|
3
|
Ye Z, Abdelmoaty MM, Ambardekar VV, Curran SM, Dyavar SR, Arnold LL, Cohen SM, Kumar D, Alnouti Y, Coulter DW, Singh RK, Vetro JA. Preliminary preclinical study of Chol-DsiRNA polyplexes formed with PLL[30]-PEG[5K] for the RNAi-based therapy of breast cancer. NANOMEDICINE : NANOTECHNOLOGY, BIOLOGY, AND MEDICINE 2021; 33:102363. [PMID: 33545405 PMCID: PMC8184584 DOI: 10.1016/j.nano.2021.102363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Revised: 12/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
RNA interference molecules have tremendous potential for cancer therapy but are limited by insufficient potency after i.v. administration. We previously found that Chol-DsiRNA polyplexes formed between cholesterol-modified dicer-substrate siRNA (Chol-DsiRNA) and the cationic diblock copolymer PLL[30]-PEG[5K] greatly increase the activity of Chol-DsiRNA against a stably expressed reporter mRNA in primary murine syngeneic breast tumors after daily i.v. dosing. Here, we provide a more thorough preliminary preclinical study of Chol-DsiRNA polyplexes against the therapeutically relevant target protein, STAT3. We found that Chol-DsiSTAT3 polyplexes greatly increase plasma exposure, distribution, potency, and therapeutic activity of Chol-DsiSTAT3 in primary murine syngeneic 4T1 breast tumors after i.v. administration. Furthermore, inactive Chol-DsiCTRL polyplexes are well tolerated by healthy female BALB/c mice after chronic i.v. administration at 50 mg Chol-DsiCTRL/kg over 28 days. Thus, Chol-DsiRNA polyplexes may be a good candidate for Phase I clinical trials to improve the treatment of breast cancer and other solid tumors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhen Ye
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Mai Mohamed Abdelmoaty
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA; Therapeutic Chemistry Department, Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research Division, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt
| | - Vishakha V Ambardekar
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Stephen M Curran
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Shetty Ravi Dyavar
- Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Lora L Arnold
- Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Samuel M Cohen
- Havlik-Wall Professor of Oncology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA; Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Devendra Kumar
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Yazen Alnouti
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Don W Coulter
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Department of Radiation Oncology, J. Bruce Henriksen Cancer Research Laboratories, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Rakesh K Singh
- Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA; Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Joseph A Vetro
- Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA; Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Yang Q, Humphreys SC, Lade JM, Li AP. Prolonged cultured human hepatocytes as an in vitro experimental system for the evaluation of potency and duration of activity of RNA therapeutics: Demonstration of prolonged duration of gene silencing effects of a GalNAc-conjugated human hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT1) siRNA. Biochem Pharmacol 2020; 189:114374. [PMID: 33358826 DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2020.114374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2020] [Revised: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
We report here the evaluation of a novel in vitro experimental model, prolonged cultured human hepatocytes (PCHC), as an experimental system to evaluate the potency and duration of effects of oligonucleotide therapeutics. A novel observation was made on the redifferentiation of PCHC upon prolonged culturing based on mRNA profiling of characteristic hepatic differentiation marker genes albumin, transferrin, and transthyretin. Consistent with the known de-differentiation of cultured human hepatocytes, decreases in marker gene expression were observed upon culturing of the hepatocytes for 2 days. A novel observation of re-differentiation was observed on day 7 as demonstrated by an increase in expression of the marker genes to levels similar to that observed on the first day of culture. The expression of the differentiation marker genes was highest on day 7, followed by a gradual decrease but remained higher than that on day 2 for up to the longest culture duration evaluated of 41 days. The redifferentiation phenomenon suggests that PCHC may be useful for the evaluation of the duration of effects of oligonucleotide therapeutics on gene expression in human hepatocytes. A proof of concept study was thereby conducted with PCHC with a GalNAc-conjugated siRNA targeting human hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase1 (HPRT1). HPRT1 mRNA expression in siRNA-treated cultures decreased to 21% of that in untreated hepatocytes on day 1, <10% from days 2 to 12, <20% from days 16 to 33, and eventually recovered to 64% by day 41. Our results suggest that PCHC represent a clinically-relevant cost- and time-efficient experimental tool to aid in the evaluation of GalNAc-siRNA silencing activity, providing information on both efficacy and duration of efficacy. PCHC may be applicable in the drug development setting as a species- and cell type-relevant experimental tool to aid the development of oligonucleotide therapeutics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qian Yang
- In Vitro ADMET Laboratories Inc., Columbia, MD (QY, APL) and Amgen Inc., San Francisco, CA (SCH, JML), United States
| | - Sara C Humphreys
- In Vitro ADMET Laboratories Inc., Columbia, MD (QY, APL) and Amgen Inc., San Francisco, CA (SCH, JML), United States
| | - Julie M Lade
- In Vitro ADMET Laboratories Inc., Columbia, MD (QY, APL) and Amgen Inc., San Francisco, CA (SCH, JML), United States
| | - Albert P Li
- In Vitro ADMET Laboratories Inc., Columbia, MD (QY, APL) and Amgen Inc., San Francisco, CA (SCH, JML), United States.
| |
Collapse
|