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Zhang H, Vandesompele J, Braeckmans K, De Smedt SC, Remaut K. Nucleic acid degradation as barrier to gene delivery: a guide to understand and overcome nuclease activity. Chem Soc Rev 2024; 53:317-360. [PMID: 38073448 DOI: 10.1039/d3cs00194f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Gene therapy is on its way to revolutionize the treatment of both inherited and acquired diseases, by transferring nucleic acids to correct a disease-causing gene in the target cells of patients. In the fight against infectious diseases, mRNA-based therapeutics have proven to be a viable strategy in the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Although a growing number of gene therapies have been approved, the success rate is limited when compared to the large number of preclinical and clinical trials that have been/are being performed. In this review, we highlight some of the hurdles which gene therapies encounter after administration into the human body, with a focus on nucleic acid degradation by nucleases that are extremely abundant in mammalian organs, biological fluids as well as in subcellular compartments. We overview the available strategies to reduce the biodegradation of gene therapeutics after administration, including chemical modifications of the nucleic acids, encapsulation into vectors and co-administration with nuclease inhibitors and discuss which strategies are applied for clinically approved nucleic acid therapeutics. In the final part, we discuss the currently available methods and techniques to qualify and quantify the integrity of nucleic acids, with their own strengths and limitations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heyang Zhang
- Laboratory for General Biochemistry and Physical Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
- Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Jo Vandesompele
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
| | - Kevin Braeckmans
- Laboratory for General Biochemistry and Physical Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
- Centre for Nano- and Biophotonics, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Stefaan C De Smedt
- Laboratory for General Biochemistry and Physical Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
- Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
- Centre for Nano- and Biophotonics, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Katrien Remaut
- Laboratory for General Biochemistry and Physical Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
- Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent, Belgium
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Bibeau JP, Galotto G, Wu M, Tüzel E, Vidali L. Quantitative cell biology of tip growth in moss. PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2021; 107:227-244. [PMID: 33825083 PMCID: PMC8492783 DOI: 10.1007/s11103-021-01147-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
KEY MESSAGE Here we review, from a quantitative point of view, the cell biology of protonemal tip growth in the model moss Physcomitrium patens. We focus on the role of the cytoskeleton, vesicle trafficking, and cell wall mechanics, including reviewing some of the existing mathematical models of tip growth. We provide a primer for existing cell biological tools that can be applied to the future study of tip growth in moss. Polarized cell growth is a ubiquitous process throughout the plant kingdom in which the cell elongates in a self-similar manner. This process is important for nutrient uptake by root hairs, fertilization by pollen, and gametophyte development by the protonemata of bryophytes and ferns. In this review, we will focus on the tip growth of moss cells, emphasizing the role of cytoskeletal organization, cytoplasmic zonation, vesicle trafficking, cell wall composition, and dynamics. We compare some of the existing knowledge on tip growth in protonemata against what is known in pollen tubes and root hairs, which are better-studied tip growing cells. To fully understand how plant cells grow requires that we deepen our knowledge in a variety of forms of plant cell growth. We focus this review on the model plant Physcomitrium patens, which uses tip growth as the dominant form of growth at its protonemal stage. Because mosses and vascular plants shared a common ancestor more than 450 million years ago, we anticipate that both similarities and differences between tip growing plant cells will provide mechanistic information of tip growth as well as of plant cell growth in general. Towards this mechanistic understanding, we will also review some of the existing mathematical models of plant tip growth and their applicability to investigate protonemal morphogenesis. We attempt to integrate the conclusions and data across cell biology and physical modeling to our current state of knowledge of polarized cell growth in P. patens and highlight future directions in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey P Bibeau
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Giulia Galotto
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Min Wu
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Erkan Tüzel
- Bioengineering Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Luis Vidali
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA.
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA.
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Sasaki A, Yamamoto J, Kinjo M, Noda N. Absolute Quantification of RNA Molecules Using Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy with Certified Reference Materials. Anal Chem 2018; 90:10865-10871. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b02213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Akira Sasaki
- Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan
| | - Johtaro Yamamoto
- Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan
- Laboratory of Molecular Cell Dynamics, Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 001-0021, Japan
| | - Masataka Kinjo
- Laboratory of Molecular Cell Dynamics, Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 001-0021, Japan
| | - Naohiro Noda
- Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan
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Garcia E, Bernardino de la Serna J. Dissecting single-cell molecular spatiotemporal mobility and clustering at focal adhesions in polarised cells by fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy methods. Methods 2018; 140-141:85-96. [PMID: 29605734 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2018.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2017] [Revised: 03/20/2018] [Accepted: 03/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Quantitative fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy from optical microscopy datasets is a very powerful tool to resolve multiple spatiotemporal cellular and subcellular processes at the molecular level. In particular, raster image correlation spectroscopy (RICS) and number and brightness analyses (N&B) yield molecular mobility and clustering dynamic information extracted from real-time cellular processes. This quantitative information can be inferred in a highly flexible and detailed manner, i.e. 1) at the localisation level: from full-frame datasets and multiple regions of interest within; and 2) at the temporal level: not only from full-frame and multiple regions, but also intermediate temporal events. Here we build on previous research in deciphering the molecular dynamics of paxillin, a main component of focal adhesions. Cells use focal adhesions to attach to the extracellular matrix and interact with their local environment. Through focal adhesions and other adhesion structures, cells sense their local environment and respond accordingly; due to this continuous communication, these structures can be highly dynamic depending on the extracellular characteristics. By using a previously well-characterised model like paxillin, we examine the powerful sensitivity and some limitations of RICS and N&B analyses. We show that cells upon contact to different surfaces show differential self-assembly dynamics in terms of molecular diffusion and oligomerisation. In addition, single-cell studies show that these dynamics change gradually following an antero-posterior gradient.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Garcia
- Central Laser Facility, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Research Complex at Harwell, Harwell-Oxford, UK
| | - Jorge Bernardino de la Serna
- Central Laser Facility, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Research Complex at Harwell, Harwell-Oxford, UK; Department of Physics, King's College London, London, UK.
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Mikuni S, Yamamoto J, Horio T, Kinjo M. Negative Correlation between the Diffusion Coefficient and Transcriptional Activity of the Glucocorticoid Receptor. Int J Mol Sci 2017; 18:ijms18091855. [PMID: 28841150 PMCID: PMC5618504 DOI: 10.3390/ijms18091855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2017] [Revised: 08/18/2017] [Accepted: 08/22/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a transcription factor, which interacts with DNA and other cofactors to regulate gene transcription. Binding to other partners in the cell nucleus alters the diffusion properties of GR. Raster image correlation spectroscopy (RICS) was applied to quantitatively characterize the diffusion properties of EGFP labeled human GR (EGFP-hGR) and its mutants in the cell nucleus. RICS is an image correlation technique that evaluates the spatial distribution of the diffusion coefficient as a diffusion map. Interestingly, we observed that the averaged diffusion coefficient of EGFP-hGR strongly and negatively correlated with its transcriptional activities in comparison to that of EGFP-hGR wild type and mutants with various transcriptional activities. This result suggests that the decreasing of the diffusion coefficient of hGR was reflected in the high-affinity binding to DNA. Moreover, the hyper-phosphorylation of hGR can enhance the transcriptional activity by reduction of the interaction between the hGR and the nuclear corepressors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shintaro Mikuni
- Laboratory of Molecular Cell Dynamics, Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 0010021, Japan.
| | - Johtaro Yamamoto
- Laboratory of Molecular Cell Dynamics, Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 0010021, Japan.
| | - Takashi Horio
- Laboratory of Molecular Cell Dynamics, Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 0010021, Japan.
| | - Masataka Kinjo
- Laboratory of Molecular Cell Dynamics, Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 0010021, Japan.
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