Design and development of efficient non-viral gene delivery systems is critical to overcome various barriers for effective intracellular gene delivery. Eight new spermine-based protonatable surfactants were designed, synthesized and evaluated as non-viral pH-sensitive gene carriers. These carriers formed stable complexes with plasmid DNA at an N/P ratio as low as 2. The sizes of the carrier/pDNA nanoparticles (N/P = 12) were in the range of 90–130 nm, smaller than that of Lipofectamine-2000/pDNA nanoparticles. The pDNA nanoparticles of the carriers exhibited substantially increased hemolysis when pH decreased from 7.4 to 5.5. The DNA nanoparticles had low cytotocixity, similar to that of Lipofectamine-2000/pDNA nanoparticles. The pH-sensitive gene carriers with no helper lipids resulted in much higher intracellular transfection and gene expression in U87 cells than Lipofectamine-2000. [N,N′-Bis(oleoylcysteinyl)(β-alanyl-α-lysyl)]-spermine monoamide (SKACO) resulted in the highest luciferase transfection efficiency, more than 400 times higher than that of Lipofectamine-2000, and GFP expression in 71% of transfected U87 cells. SKACO was identified as a promising lead carrier for efficient gene delivery. These spermine-based pH-sensitive amphiphilic carriers have a potential to be further developed as efficient non-viral multifunctional gene delivery systems.
设计和开发高效的非病毒
基因递送系统对于克服有效细胞内
基因递送的各种障碍至关重要。研究人员设计、合成并评估了八种新型
精胺基质子可调控表面活性剂,将其作为对 pH 值敏感的非病毒
基因载体。这些载体与质粒 DNA 形成稳定的复合物,N/P 比低至 2。载体/pDNA 纳米颗粒(N/P = 12)的尺寸在 90-130 nm 之间,小于 Lipofectamine-2000/pDNA 纳米颗粒。当 pH 值从 7.4 降到 5.5 时,载体的 pDNA 纳米粒子的溶血作用大大增加。DNA 纳米颗粒的细胞粘合力较低,与 Lipofectamine-2000/pDNA 纳米颗粒的细胞粘合力相似。与 Lipofectamine-2000 相比,不含辅助脂质的 pH 敏感
基因载体在 U87 细胞中的细胞内转染率和
基因表达率都要高得多。[N,N′-双(油酰半胱
氨酸基)(β-丙
氨酰-α-赖
氨酰)]-
精胺单酰胺(SKACO)的
荧光素酶转染效率最高,比 Lipofectamine-2000 高 400 多倍,71% 的转染 U87 细胞表达了 GFP。SKACO 被认为是一种有望实现高效
基因递送的先导载体。这些基于
精胺的 pH 敏感两亲性载体有望进一步发展成为高效的非病毒多功能
基因递送系统。