Novel lipid compounds are provided that may be termed “pro-cationic” in that they are neutral or negatively charged until they are either brought into contact with cellular membranes or are internalized by cells. The lipids have a hydrophobic tail group and a hydrophilic head group, the head group incorporating both a positively and negatively charged region at physiological pH. The hydrophobic tail group is stably connected to the positive region of the head group which in turn is connected to the negative region by a disulfide bond that is susceptible to cleavage by membrane-bound and intracellular factors. Cleavage of the disulfide bond removes the negatively charged region from the head group resulting in a lipid that is cationic and therefor fusogenic with negatively charged cell membranes. Consequently, lipids of the invention are useful as components of liposomes that serve as vehicles for delivering pharmaceutical agents into cells with reduced toxicity.
提供了一种新型的脂质化合物,可以称为“前阳离子”,因为它们在与细胞膜接触或被细胞内摄取之前是中性或带负电荷的。这些脂质具有疏
水尾基团和亲
水头基团,头基团在生理pH下包含了既带正电荷又带负电荷区域。疏
水尾基团稳定连接到头基团的正区域,而正区域又通过一种
硫醚键连接到负区域,这种
硫醚键容易被膜结合和细胞内因子裂解。裂解
硫醚键会去除头基团的负电荷区域,使脂质呈阳离子性,因此能与带负电荷的细胞膜融合。因此,该发明的脂质可用作脂质体的组分,用于将药物载体输送到细胞内,以减少毒性。