Pyridylthiourea-grafted polyethylenimine offers an effective assistance to siRNA-mediated gene silencing in vitro and in vivo
摘要:
Success of synthetic interfering nucleic acids (siRNAs)-based therapy relies almost exclusively on effective, safe and preferably nanometric delivery systems which can be easily prepared, even at high concentrations. We prepared by chemical synthesis various self-assembling polymers to entrap siRNAs into stable polyplexes outside cells but with a disassembly potential upon sensing endosomal acidity. Our results revealed that pyridylthiourea-grafted polyethylenimine (pi PEI) followed the above-mentioned principles. It led to above 90% siRNA-mediated gene silencing in vitro on U87 cells at 10 nM siRNA concentration and did not have a hemolytic activity. Assembly of siRNA/pi PEI. at high concentration was then studied and 4.5% glucose solution, pH 6.0, yielded stable colloidal solutions with sizes slightly below 100 nm for several hours. A single injection of these concentrated siRNA polyplexes into luciferase-expressing human glioblastoma tumors, which were subcutaneously xenografted into nude mice, led to a significant 30% siRNA-mediated luciferase gene silencing 4 days post-injection. Our results altogether substantiate the potential of self-assembling cationic polymers with a pH-sensitive disassembly switch for siRNA delivery in vitro and also in vivo experiments. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.
A method of producing vanillin comprising the steps of: (1) providing trans-ferulic acid or a salt thereof; and (2) providing trans-ferulate: CoASH ligase activity (enzyme activity I), trans-feruloyl ScoA hydratase activity (enzyme activity II), and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl-&bgr;-hydroxy-propionyl SCoA (HMPHP SCoA) cleavage activity (enzyme activity III). Conveniently the enzymes are provided by
Pseudomonas fluorescens
Fe3 or a mutant or derivative thereof. Polypeptides with enzymes activities II and III and polynucleotides encoding said polypeptides. Use of said polypeptides or said polynucleotides in a method for producing vanillin.
The present invention relates to a new class of cationic polymers that self-assemble with a pH-sensitive dissolution switch, and their uses to deliver molecules of interest to a cell. The present invention also relates to compositions comprising said cationic polymers non-covalently associated with a molecule of interest, in particular with a siRNA.
One aspect of the present invention relates to a transgenic plant which, by presence of a transgene, is able to produce p-hydroxybenzoic acid or a &bgr;-D-glycoside or &bgr;-D-glucose ester thereof. A method is also disclosed for producing p-hydroxybenzoic acid or a &bgr;-D-glycoside or &bgr;-D-glucose ester thereof using a transgenic plant of the present invention.