Molecular electroporation and the transduction of oligoarginines

Cell-penetrating peptides improve pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of anticancer drugs

This review concentrates on the research concerning conjugates of anticancer drugs with versatile cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). For a better insight into the relationship between the components of the constructs, it starts with the characteristic of the peptides and considers its following aspects: mechanisms of cellular internalization, interaction with cancer-modified membranes, selectivity against tumor tissue. Also, CPPs with anticancer activity have been distinguished and summarized with their mechanisms of action. With respect to the conjugates, the preclinical studies (in vitro, in vivo) indicated that they possess several merits in comparison to the parent drugs. They concerned not only better cellular internalization but also other improvements in pharmacokinetics (e.g. access to the brain tissue) and pharmacodynamics (e.g. overcoming drug resistance). The anticancer activity of the conjugates was usually superior to that of the unconjugated drug. Certain anticancer CPPs and conjugates entered clinical trials.

Field-controlled magnetoelectric core-shell CoFe2O4@BaTiO3 nanoparticles as effective drug carriers and drug release in vitro

The targeted drug release at tumor cells while sparing normal cells is a huge challenge. Core-shell magnetoelectric (ME) nanoparticles have addressed this problem using shape-dependent magneto-electric attributes. The colloidally stable, core-shell cobalt ferrite@barium titanate (CFO@BTO) ME nanoparticles (NPs) used for in vitro study were synthesized using sonochemical method. The structural characteristics and core-shell morphology were analyzed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) respectively. Further magnetic and exchange coupling between two phases of ME nanostructures were studied at room temperature. Colloidal stability was studied in different suspension solutions (Water, SBB, PBS, and DMEM) using dynamic light scattering. Subsequently, the synthesized nanoparticles were functionalized with anticancer drugs including doxorubicin and methotrexate up to 80% via (EDC) chemistry. In vitro cytotoxicity studies carried out on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and human malignant melanoma (HT144), cells validated the magneto-electric property of CFO@BTO nano-carriers in the presence of external magnetic field (5 mT), with significantly enhanced cytotoxicity when compared to free drugs and without field replicates. The resulted IC₅₀ values ranging from 5.3-7.3 μg/ml compared to 30.1-43.1 μg/ml in the absence of a magnetic field also confirmed the involved physical attributes of magnetoelectric nanostructures. The fluorescent microscopy results also indicated the increased apoptosis in magnetic field-assisted samples. Finally, hemolysis assay indicated the suitability of CFO@BTO nano-carriers for intravenous applications at IC₅₀ concentration.

Antimicrobial peptides: biochemical determinants of activity and biophysical techniques of elucidating their functionality

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been established over millennia as powerful components of the innate immune system of many organisms. Due to their broad spectrum of activity and the development of host resistance against them being unlikely, AMPs are strong candidates for controlling drug-resistant pathogenic microbial pathogens. AMPs cause cell death through several independent or cooperative mechanisms involving membrane lysis, non-lytic activity, and/or intracellular mechanisms. Biochemical determinants such as peptide length, primary sequence, charge, secondary structure, hydrophobicity, amphipathicity and host cell membrane composition together influence the biological activities of peptides. A number of biophysical techniques have been used in recent years to study the mechanisms of action of AMPs. This work appraises the molecular parameters that determine the biocidal activity of AMPs and overviews their mechanisms of actions and the diverse biochemical, biophysical and microscopy techniques utilised to elucidate these.

Labeling and in vivo visualization of transplanted adipose tissue-derived stem cells with safe cadmium-free aqueous ZnS coating of ZnS-AgInS2 nanoparticles

The facile synthesis of ZnS-AgInS₂ (ZAIS) as cadmium-free QDs and their application, mainly in solar cells, has been reported by our groups. In the present study, we investigated the safety and the usefulness for labeling and in vivo imaging of a newly synthesized aqueous ZnS-coated ZAIS (ZnS-ZAIS) carboxylated nanoparticles (ZZC) to stem cells. ZZC shows the strong fluorescence in aqueous solutions such as PBS and cell culture medium, and a complex of ZZC and octa-arginine (R8) peptides (R8-ZZC) can achieve the highly efficient labeling of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs). The cytotoxicity of R8-ZZC to ASCs was found to be extremely low in comparison to that of CdSe-based QDs, and R8-ZZC was confirmed to have no influence on the proliferation rate or the differentiation ability of ASCs. Moreover, R8-ZZC was not found to induce the production of major inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-12p70, IL-6 and MCP-1) in ASCs. Transplanted R8-ZZC-labeled ASCs could be quantitatively detected in the lungs and liver mainly using an in vivo imaging system. In addition, high-speed multiphoton confocal laser microscopy revealed the presence of aggregates of transplanted ASCs at many sites in the lungs, whereas individual ASCs were found to have accumulated in the liver.

Targeted and controlled anticancer drug delivery and release with magnetoelectric nanoparticles

It is a challenge to eradicate tumor cells while sparing normal cells. We used magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENs) to control drug delivery and release. The physics is due to electric-field interactions (i) between MENs and a drug and (ii) between drug-loaded MENs and cells. MENs distinguish cancer cells from normal cells through the membrane's electric properties; cancer cells have a significantly smaller threshold field to induce electroporation. In vitro and in vivo studies (nude mice with SKOV-3 xenografts) showed that (i) drug (paclitaxel (PTX)) could be attached to MENs (30-nm CoFe2O4@BaTiO3 nanostructures) through surface functionalization to avoid its premature release, (ii) drug-loaded MENs could be delivered into cancer cells via application of a d.c. field (~100 Oe), and (iii) the drug could be released off MENs on demand via application of an a.c. field (~50 Oe, 100 Hz). The cell lysate content was measured with scanning probe microscopy and spectrophotometry. MENs and control ferromagnetic and polymer nanoparticles conjugated with HER2-neu antibodies, all loaded with PTX were weekly administrated intravenously. Only the mice treated with PTX-loaded MENs (15/200 μg) in a field for three months were completely cured, as confirmed through infrared imaging and post-euthanasia histology studies via energy-dispersive spectroscopy and immunohistochemistry.

Development and characterization of self-assembling nanoparticles using a bio-inspired amphipathic peptide for gene delivery

The design of a non-viral gene delivery vehicle capable of delivering and releasing a functional nucleic acid cargo intracellularly remains a formidable challenge. For systemic gene therapy to be successful a delivery vehicle is required that protects the nucleic acid cargo from enzymatic degradation, extravasates from the vasculature, traverses the cell membrane, disrupts the endosomal vesicles and unloads the cargo at its destination site, namely the nucleus for the purposes of gene delivery. This manuscript reports the extensive investigation of a novel amphipathic peptide composed of repeating RALA units capable of overcoming the biological barriers to gene delivery both in vitro and in vivo. Our data demonstrates the spontaneous self-assembly of cationic DNA-loaded nanoparticles when the peptide is complexed with pDNA. Nanoparticles were <100nm, were stable in the presence of serum and were fusogenic in nature, with increased peptide α-helicity at a lower pH. Nanoparticles proved to be non-cytotoxic, readily traversed the plasma membrane of both cancer and fibroblast cell lines and elicited reporter-gene expression following intravenous delivery in vivo. The results of this study indicate that RALA presents an exciting delivery platform for the systemic delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics.

Magneto-electric nanoparticles to enable field-controlled high-specificity drug delivery to eradicate ovarian cancer cells

The nanotechnology capable of high-specificity targeted delivery of anti-neoplastic drugs would be a significant breakthrough in Cancer in general and Ovarian Cancer in particular. We addressed this challenge through a new physical concept that exploited (i) the difference in the membrane electric properties between the tumor and healthy cells and (ii) the capability of magneto-electric nanoparticles (MENs) to serve as nanosized converters of remote magnetic field energy into the MENs' intrinsic electric field energy. This capability allows to remotely control the membrane electric fields and consequently trigger high-specificity drug uptake through creation of localized nano-electroporation sites. In in-vitro studies on human ovarian carcinoma cell (SKOV-3) and healthy cell (HOMEC) lines, we applied a 30-Oe d.c. field to trigger high-specificity uptake of paclitaxel loaded on 30-nm CoFe₂O₄@BaTiO₃ MENs. The drug penetrated through the membrane and completely eradicated the tumor within 24 hours without affecting the normal cells.

Improving the endosomal escape of cell-penetrating peptides and their cargos: strategies and challenges

Cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) can deliver cell-impermeable therapeutic cargos into cells. In particular, CPP-cargo conjugates tend to accumulate inside cells by endocytosis. However, they often remain trapped inside endocytic organelles and fail to reach the cytosolic space of cells efficiently. In this review, the evidence for CPP-mediated endosomal escape is discussed. In addition, several strategies that have been utilized to enhance the endosomal escape of CPP-cargos are described. The recent development of branched systems that display multiple copies of a CPP is presented. The use of viral or synthetic peptides that can disrupt the endosomal membrane upon activation by the low pH of endosomes is also discussed. Finally, we survey how CPPs labeled with chromophores can be used in combination with light to stimulate endosomal lysis. The mechanisms and challenges associated with these intracellular delivery methodologies are discussed.

Dimerization of a cell-penetrating peptide leads to enhanced cellular uptake and drug delivery

Over the past 20 years, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have gained tremendous interest due to their ability to deliver a variety of therapeutically active molecules that would otherwise be unable to cross the cellular membrane due to their size or hydrophilicity. Recently, we reported on the identification of a novel CPP, sC18, which is derived from the C-terminus of the 18 kDa cationic antimicrobial protein. Furthermore, we demonstrated successful application of sC18 for the delivery of functionalized cyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (cymantrene) complexes to tumor cell lines, inducing high cellular toxicity. In order to increase the potential of the organometallic complexes to kill tumor cells, we were looking for a way to enhance cellular uptake. Therefore, we designed a branched dimeric variant of sC18, (sC18)(2), which was shown to have a dramatically improved capacity to internalize into various cell lines, even primary cells, using flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. Cell viability assays indicated increased cytotoxicity of the dimer presumably caused by membrane leakage; however, this effect turned out to be dependent on the specific cell type. Finally, we could show that conjugation of a functionalized cymantrene with (sC18)(2) leads to significant reduction of its IC(50) value in tumor cells compared to the respective sC18 conjugate, proving that dimerization is a useful method to increase the drug-delivery potential of a cell-penetrating peptide.

Models of membrane electrostatics

Formulas are derived for the electrostatic potential of a charge in or near a membrane modeled as one or more dielectric slabs lying between two semi-infinite dielectrics. One can use these formulas in Monte Carlo codes to compute the distribution of ions near cell membranes more accurately than by using Poisson-Boltzmann theory or its linearized version. Here I use them to discuss the electric field of a uniformly charged membrane, the image charges of an ion, the distribution of salt ions near a charged membrane, the energy of a zwitterion near a lipid slab, and the effect of including the phosphate head groups as thin layers of high electric permittivity.

Modeling of the endosomolytic activity of HA2-TAT peptides with red blood cells and ghosts

HA2-TAT is a peptide-based delivery agent that combines the pH-sensitive HA2 fusion peptide from influenza and the cell-penetrating peptide TAT from HIV. This chimeric peptide is engineered to induce the cellular uptake of macromolecules into endosomes via the TAT moiety and to respond to the acidifying lumen of endosomes to cause membrane leakage and release of macromolecules into cells via the HA2 moiety. The question of how HA2 and TAT affect the properties of one another remains, however, unanswered, and the behavior of the peptide inside endosomes is mostly uncharacterized. To address these issues, the binding and membrane leakage activity of a glutamic acid-enriched analogue E5-TAT was assessed with red blood cells and giant unilamellar vesicles as membrane models for endosomes. Hemolysis and microscopy assays reveal that E5-TAT binds to membranes in a pH-dependent manner and causes membrane leakage by inducing the formation of pores through which macromolecules can escape. The TAT moiety contributes to this activity by causing a shift in the pH response of E5 and by binding to negatively charged phospholipids. On the other hand, TAT binding to glycosaminoglycans reduces the lytic activity of E5-TAT. Addition of TAT to the C-terminus of E5 can therefore either increase or inhibit the activity of E5 depending on the cellular components present at the membrane. Taken together, these results suggest a model for the endosomolytic activity of the peptide and provide the basis for the molecular design of future delivery agents.