Bi-functionalized aminoguanidine-PEGylated periodic mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles: a promising nanocarrier for delivery of Cas9-sgRNA ribonucleoproteine

Iron-Confined CRISPR/Cas9-Ribonucleoprotein Delivery System for Redox-Responsive Gene Editing

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-associated protein 9 (Cas9) is a promising gene editing tool to treat diseases at the genetic level. Nonetheless, the challenge of the safe and efficient delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 to host cells constrains its clinical applicability. In the current study, a facile, redox-responsive CRISPR/Cas9-Ribonucleoprotein (RNP) delivery system by combining iron-coordinated aggregation with liposomes (Fe-RNP@L) is reported. The Fe-RNP is formed by the coordination of Fe3+ with amino and carboxyl groups of Cas9, which modifies the lipophilicity and surface charge of RNP and alters cellular uptake from primary endocytosis to endocytosis and cholesterol-dependent membrane fusion. RNP can be rapidly and reversibly released from Fe-RNP in response to glutathione without loss of structural integrity and enzymatic activity. In addition, iron coordination also improves the stability of RNP and substantially mitigates cytotoxicity. This construct enabled highly efficient cytoplasmic/nuclear delivery (≈90%) and gene-editing efficiency (≈70%) even at low concentrations. The high payload content, high editing efficiency, good stability, low immunogenicity, and ease of production and storage, highlight its potential for diverse genome editing and clinical applications.

Nonviral In Vivo Delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 Using Protein-Agnostic, High-Loading Porous Silicon and Polymer Nanoparticles

The complexity of CRISPR machinery is a challenge to its application for nonviral in vivo therapeutic gene editing. Here, we demonstrate that proteins, regardless of size or charge, efficiently load into porous silicon nanoparticles (PSiNPs). Optimizing the loading strategy yields formulations that are ultrahigh loading─>40% cargo by volume─and highly active. Further tuning of a polymeric coating on the loaded PSiNPs yields nanocomposites that achieve colloidal stability under cryopreservation, endosome escape, and gene editing efficiencies twice that of the commercial standard Lipofectamine CRISPRMAX. In a mouse model of arthritis, PSiNPs edit cells in both the cartilage and synovium of knee joints, and achieve 60% reduction in expression of the therapeutically relevant MMP13 gene. Administered intramuscularly, they are active over a broad dose range, with the highest tested dose yielding nearly 100% muscle fiber editing at the injection site. The nanocomposite PSiNPs are also amenable to systemic delivery. Administered intravenously in a model that mimics muscular dystrophy, they edit sites of inflamed muscle. Collectively, the results demonstrate that the PSiNP nanocomposites are a versatile system that can achieve high loading of diverse cargoes and can be applied for gene editing in both local and systemic delivery applications.

Design and fabrication of intracellular therapeutic cargo delivery systems based on nanomaterials: current status and future perspectives

Intracellular cargo delivery, the introduction of small molecules, proteins, and nucleic acids into a specific targeted site in a biological system, is an important strategy for deciphering cell function, directing cell fate, and reprogramming cell behavior. With the advancement of nanotechnology, many researchers use nanoparticles (NPs) to break through biological barriers to achieving efficient targeted delivery in biological systems, bringing a new way to realize efficient targeted drug delivery in biological systems. With a similar size to many biomolecules, NPs possess excellent physical and chemical properties and a certain targeting ability after functional modification on the surface of NPs. Currently, intracellular cargo delivery based on NPs has emerged as an important strategy for genome editing regimens and cell therapy. Although researchers can successfully deliver NPs into biological systems, many of them are delivered very inefficiently and are not specifically targeted. Hence, the development of efficient, target-capable, and safe nanoscale drug delivery systems to deliver therapeutic substances to cells or organs is a major challenge today. In this review, on the basis of describing the research overview and classification of NPs, we focused on the current research status of intracellular cargo delivery based on NPs in biological systems, and discuss the current problems and challenges in the delivery process of NPs in biological systems.