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Maiorano G, Guido C, Russo A, Giglio A, Rizzello L, Testini M, Cortese B, D’Amone S, Gigli G, Palamà IE. Hybrid Polyelectrolyte Nanocomplexes for Non-Viral Gene Delivery with Favorable Efficacy and Safety Profile. Pharmaceutics 2022; 14:pharmaceutics14071310. [PMID: 35890206 PMCID: PMC9323431 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14071310] [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: 05/23/2022] [Revised: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of nanovectors for precise gene therapy is increasingly focusing on avoiding uncontrolled inflammation while still being able to effectively act on the target sites. Herein, we explore the use of non-viral hybrid polyelectrolyte nanocomplexes (hPECs) for gene delivery, which display good transfection efficacy coupled with non-inflammatory properties. Monodisperse hPECs were produced through a layer-by-layer self-assembling of biocompatible and biodegradable polymers. The resulting nanocomplexes had an inner core characterized by an EGFP-encoding plasmid DNA (pDNA) complexed with linear polyethyleneimine or protamine (PEI or PRM) stabilized with lecithin and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and an outer layer consisting of medium-molecular-weight chitosan (CH) combined with tripolyphosphate (TPP). PEI- and PRM-hPECs were able to efficiently protect the genetic cargo from nucleases and to perform a stimuli-responsive release of pDNA overtime, thus guaranteeing optimal transfection efficiency. Importantly, hPECs revealed a highly cytocompatible and a non-inflammatory profile in vitro. These results were further supported by evidence of the weak and unspecific interactions of serum proteins with both hPECs, thus confirming the antifouling properties of their outer shell. Therefore, these hPECs represent promising candidates for the development of effective, safe nanotools for gene delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriele Maiorano
- Nanotechnology Institute of National Research Council, CNR-NANOTEC, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (G.M.); (C.G.); (A.R.); (A.G.); (M.T.); (S.D.); (G.G.)
| | - Clara Guido
- Nanotechnology Institute of National Research Council, CNR-NANOTEC, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (G.M.); (C.G.); (A.R.); (A.G.); (M.T.); (S.D.); (G.G.)
- Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of Salento, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy
| | - Annamaria Russo
- Nanotechnology Institute of National Research Council, CNR-NANOTEC, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (G.M.); (C.G.); (A.R.); (A.G.); (M.T.); (S.D.); (G.G.)
| | - Andrea Giglio
- Nanotechnology Institute of National Research Council, CNR-NANOTEC, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (G.M.); (C.G.); (A.R.); (A.G.); (M.T.); (S.D.); (G.G.)
| | - Loris Rizzello
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (DISFARM), University of Milan, G. Balzaretti 9 Street, 20133 Milan, Italy;
- National Institute of Molecular Genetics (INGM), Francesco Sforza 35 Street, 20122 Milan, Italy
| | - Mariangela Testini
- Nanotechnology Institute of National Research Council, CNR-NANOTEC, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (G.M.); (C.G.); (A.R.); (A.G.); (M.T.); (S.D.); (G.G.)
| | - Barbara Cortese
- Nanotechnology Institute of National Research Council, CNR-NANOTEC, c/o La Sapienza University, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 00185 Rome, Italy;
| | - Stefania D’Amone
- Nanotechnology Institute of National Research Council, CNR-NANOTEC, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (G.M.); (C.G.); (A.R.); (A.G.); (M.T.); (S.D.); (G.G.)
| | - Giuseppe Gigli
- Nanotechnology Institute of National Research Council, CNR-NANOTEC, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (G.M.); (C.G.); (A.R.); (A.G.); (M.T.); (S.D.); (G.G.)
- Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of Salento, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy
| | - Ilaria Elena Palamà
- Nanotechnology Institute of National Research Council, CNR-NANOTEC, Monteroni Street, 73100 Lecce, Italy; (G.M.); (C.G.); (A.R.); (A.G.); (M.T.); (S.D.); (G.G.)
- Correspondence:
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Atz Dick T, Uludağ H. A Polyplex in a Shell: The Effect of Poly(aspartic acid)-Mediated Calcium Carbonate Mineralization on Polyplexes Properties and Transfection Efficiency. Mol Pharm 2022; 19:2077-2091. [PMID: 35649175 DOI: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.1c00909] [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: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Mineralization by exposure of organic templates to supersaturated solutions is used by many living organisms to generate specialized materials to perform structural or protective functions. Similarly, it was suggested that improved robustness acquired through mineralization under natural conditions could be an important factor for virus survival outside of a host for better transfection of cells. Here, inspired by this fact, we developed a nonviral tricomponent polyplex system for gene delivery capable of undergoing mineralization. First, we fabricated anionic polyplexes carrying pDNA by self-assembly with a lipid-modified cationic polymer and coating by poly(aspartic acid). Then, we submitted the polyplexes to a two-step mineralization reaction to precipitate CaCO3 under various supersaturations. We carried out detailed morphological studies of the mineralized polyplexes and identified which parameters of the fabrication process were influential on transfection efficiency. We found that mineralization with CaCO3 is efficient in promoting transfection efficiency as long as a certain Ca2+/CO32- lower limit ratio is respected. However, calcium incubation can also be used to achieve similar effects at higher concentrations depending on polyplex composition, probably due to the formation of physical cross-links by calcium binding to poly(aspartic acid). We proposed that the improved robustness and transfection efficiency provided by means of mineralization can be used to expand the possible applications of polyplexes in gene therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teo Atz Dick
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2Y3 Canada
| | - Hasan Uludağ
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2Y3 Canada.,Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R3 Canada.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R3, Canada
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A Dick T, Uludağ H. Mineralized polyplexes for gene delivery: Improvement of transfection efficiency as a consequence of calcium incubation and not mineralization. MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING. C, MATERIALS FOR BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS 2021; 129:112419. [PMID: 34579928 DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2021.112419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Revised: 08/19/2021] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Gene therapy is an emerging field in which nucleic acids are used to control protein expression. The necessity of delivering nucleic acids to specific cell types and intracellular sites demands the use of highly specialized gene carriers. As a carrier modification technique, mineralization has been successfully used to modify viral and non-viral carriers, providing new properties that ultimately aim to increase the transfection efficiency. However, for the specific case of polyplexes used in gene therapy, recent literature shows that interaction with calcium, a fundamental step of mineralization, might be effective to increase transfection efficiency, leaving an ambiguity about of the role of mineralization for this type of gene carriers. To answer this question and to reveal the properties responsible for increasing transfection efficiency, we mineralized poly(aspartic acid) coated polyplexes at various CaCl2 and Na3PO4 concentrations, and evaluated the resultant carriers for physicochemical and morphological characteristics, as well as transfection and delivery efficiency with MC3T3-E1 mouse osteoblastic cells. We found that both mineralization and calcium incubation positively affected the transfection efficiency and uptake of polyplexes in MC3T3-E1 cells. However, this effect originated from the properties achieved by polyplexes after the calcium incubation step that are maintained after mineralization, including particle size increase, improved pDNA binding, and adjustment of zeta potential. Considering that mineralization can be a longer process than calcium incubation, we find that calcium incubation might be sufficient and preferred if improved transfection efficiency in vitro is the only effect desired.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teo A Dick
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
| | - Hasan Uludağ
- Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
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DNA binding and NIR triggered DNA release from quaternary ammonium modified poly(allylamine hydrochloride) functionalized and folic acid conjugated reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites. Int J Biol Macromol 2020; 153:931-941. [PMID: 32088230 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.02.216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2019] [Revised: 02/18/2020] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) has shown tremendous potential as a NIR responsive nanomaterial and has been extensively explored for NIR mediated photothermal therapy and drug delivery. However, the potential of NIR as a stimulus to trigger release of entrapped/complexed DNA from its surface have not been explored. Strong complexation between the loaded cargo and the carrier often leads to no-release or decrease in the release of the therapeutic cargo. Herein, we investigated NIR as a stimulus for inducing DNA release from RGO nanocomposites. A quaternary ammonium modified poly(allylamine hydrochloride) functionalized RGO nanocomposite (RGO-MPAH) was synthesized, which was further tagged with a targeting moiety, folic acid (FA). The structural, optical and chemical properties of the synthesized nanocomposites were characterized which validated successful reduction and functionalization of GO with PAH/MPAH. The nanocomposites were found to be non-toxic and showed excellent DNA binding ability at complexation ratios as low as 3:1 (w/w). Additionally, the nanocomposites demonstrated NIR responsive release of complexed DNA from their surfaces, with RGO-PAH showing maximum DNA release followed by RGO-MPAH and RGO-MPAH-FA. This study shows the potential of NIR light to act as a stimulus for inducing release of entrapped nucleic acids from the surface of nanocarriers.
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Wu Y, Zhang X, Li H, Deng P, Li H, He T, Rong J, Zhao J, Liu Z. A core/shell stabilized polysaccharide-based nanoparticle with intracellular environment-sensitive drug delivery for breast cancer therapy. J Mater Chem B 2018; 6:6646-6659. [DOI: 10.1039/c8tb00633d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
In this work, we developed a novel core/shell chitosan (Cs)/hyaluronan (HA)-based hybrid nanoparticle, i.e. SNX@Cs-SNX/cHA, with good stability in the bloodstream and intracellular environment-sensitive drug delivery for breast cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Wu
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering
- College of Chemistry and Materials Science
- Jinan University
- Guangzhou 510632
- China
| | - Xinyue Zhang
- Guangzhoujinan Biomedicine Research and Development Center
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine
- National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine
- Jinan University
- Guangzhou 510632
| | - Huaqiang Li
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering
- College of Chemistry and Materials Science
- Jinan University
- Guangzhou 510632
- China
| | - Pengfei Deng
- Guangzhoujinan Biomedicine Research and Development Center
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine
- National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine
- Jinan University
- Guangzhou 510632
| | - Huiru Li
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering
- College of Chemistry and Materials Science
- Jinan University
- Guangzhou 510632
- China
| | - Tianqi He
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering
- College of Chemistry and Materials Science
- Jinan University
- Guangzhou 510632
- China
| | - Jianhua Rong
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering
- College of Chemistry and Materials Science
- Jinan University
- Guangzhou 510632
- China
| | - Jianhao Zhao
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering
- College of Chemistry and Materials Science
- Jinan University
- Guangzhou 510632
- China
| | - Zhong Liu
- Guangzhoujinan Biomedicine Research and Development Center
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioengineering Medicine
- National Engineering Research Center of Genetic Medicine
- Jinan University
- Guangzhou 510632
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Lei Q, Jia HZ, Chen WH, Rong L, Chen S, Luo GF, Qiu WX, Zhang XZ. A Facile Multifunctionalized Gene Delivery Platform Based on α,β Cyclodextrin Dimers. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2015; 1:1151-1162. [DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.5b00307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Qi Lei
- Key Laboratory
of Biomedical
Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Peoples’ Republic of China
| | - Hui-Zhen Jia
- Key Laboratory
of Biomedical
Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Peoples’ Republic of China
| | - Wei-Hai Chen
- Key Laboratory
of Biomedical
Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Peoples’ Republic of China
| | - Lei Rong
- Key Laboratory
of Biomedical
Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Peoples’ Republic of China
| | - Si Chen
- Key Laboratory
of Biomedical
Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Peoples’ Republic of China
| | - Guo-Feng Luo
- Key Laboratory
of Biomedical
Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Peoples’ Republic of China
| | - Wen-Xiu Qiu
- Key Laboratory
of Biomedical
Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Peoples’ Republic of China
| | - Xian-Zheng Zhang
- Key Laboratory
of Biomedical
Polymers of Ministry of Education and Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Peoples’ Republic of China
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He Y, Zhang L, Chen Z, Liang Y, Zhang Y, Bai Y, Zhang J, Li Y. Enhanced chemotherapy efficacy by co-delivery of shABCG2 and doxorubicin with a pH-responsive charge-reversible layered graphene oxide nanocomplex. J Mater Chem B 2015; 3:6462-6472. [DOI: 10.1039/c5tb00923e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
pH responsive charge-reversible GO–PEI–PEG/DOX/CS-Aco/PEI/shABCG2 nanocomplexes for efficient intracellular DOX and shABCG2 co-delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuling He
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry
- Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Lanzhou University
- Lanzhou
| | - Lifen Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry
- Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Lanzhou University
- Lanzhou
| | - Zhenzhen Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry
- Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Lanzhou University
- Lanzhou
| | - Yong Liang
- Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Chemical Materials and Devices of the Ministry of Education
- School of Medicine
- Institute of Environment and health
- Jianghan University
- Wuhan 430056
| | - Yushun Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry
- Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Lanzhou University
- Lanzhou
| | - Yanli Bai
- Lanzhou Jinchuan Technology Park Co., Ltd
- Lanzhou
- China
| | - Jing Zhang
- Lanzhou Jinchuan Technology Park Co., Ltd
- Lanzhou
- China
| | - Yanfeng Li
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry
- Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Lanzhou University
- Lanzhou
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