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- ItemElectroactive nanoinjection platform for intracellular delivery and gene silencing(London : Biomed Central, 2023) Shokouhi, Ali-Reza; Chen, Yaping; Yoh, Hao Zhe; Murayama, Takahide; Suu, Koukou; Morikawa, Yasuhiro; Brenker, Jason; Alan, Tuncay; Voelcker, Nicolas H.; Elnathan, RoeyBackground: Nanoinjection—the process of intracellular delivery using vertically configured nanostructures—is a physical route that efficiently negotiates the plasma membrane, with minimal perturbation and toxicity to the cells. Nanoinjection, as a physical membrane-disruption-mediated approach, overcomes challenges associated with conventional carrier-mediated approaches such as safety issues (with viral carriers), genotoxicity, limited packaging capacity, low levels of endosomal escape, and poor versatility for cell and cargo types. Yet, despite the implementation of nanoinjection tools and their assisted analogues in diverse cellular manipulations, there are still substantial challenges in harnessing these platforms to gain access into cell interiors with much greater precision without damaging the cell’s intricate structure. Here, we propose a non-viral, low-voltage, and reusable electroactive nanoinjection (ENI) platform based on vertically configured conductive nanotubes (NTs) that allows for rapid influx of targeted biomolecular cargos into the intracellular environment, and for successful gene silencing. The localization of electric fields at the tight interface between conductive NTs and the cell membrane drastically lowers the voltage required for cargo delivery into the cells, from kilovolts (for bulk electroporation) to only ≤ 10 V; this enhances the fine control over membrane disruption and mitigates the problem of high cell mortality experienced by conventional electroporation. Results: Through both theoretical simulations and experiments, we demonstrate the capability of the ENI platform to locally perforate GPE-86 mouse fibroblast cells and efficiently inject a diverse range of membrane-impermeable biomolecules with efficacy of 62.5% (antibody), 55.5% (mRNA), and 51.8% (plasmid DNA), with minimal impact on cells’ viability post nanoscale-EP (> 90%). We also show gene silencing through the delivery of siRNA that targets TRIOBP, yielding gene knockdown efficiency of 41.3%. Conclusions: We anticipate that our non-viral and low-voltage ENI platform is set to offer a new safe path to intracellular delivery with broader selection of cargo and cell types, and will open opportunities for advanced ex vivo cell engineering and gene silencing. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
- ItemKinetics of mRNA delivery and protein translation in dendritic cells using lipid-coated PLGA nanoparticles(London : Biomed Central, 2018) Yasar, Hanzey; Biehl, Alexander; De Rossi, Chiara; Koch, Marcus; Murgia, Xabi; Loretz, Brigitta; Lehr, Claus-MichaelBackground: Messenger RNA (mRNA) has gained remarkable attention as an alternative to DNA-based therapies in biomedical research. A variety of biodegradable nanoparticles (NPs) has been developed including lipid-based and polymer-based systems for mRNA delivery. However, both systems still lack in achieving an efficient transfection rate and a detailed understanding of the mRNA transgene expression kinetics. Therefore, quantitative analysis of the time-dependent translation behavior would provide a better understanding of mRNA's transient nature and further aid the enhancement of appropriate carriers with the perspective to generate future precision nanomedicines with quick response to treat various diseases. Results: A lipid-polymer hybrid system complexed with mRNA was evaluated regarding its efficiency to transfect dendritic cells (DCs) by simultaneous live cell video imaging of both particle uptake and reporter gene expression. We prepared and optimized NPs consisting of poly (lactid-co-glycolid) (PLGA) coated with the cationic lipid 1, 2-di-O-octadecenyl-3-trimethylammonium propane abbreviated as LPNs. An earlier developed polymer-based delivery system (chitosan-PLGA NPs) served for comparison. Both NPs types were complexed with mRNA-mCherry at various ratios. While cellular uptake and toxicity of either NPs was comparable, LPNs showed a significantly higher transfection efficiency of ~ 80% while chitosan-PLGA NPs revealed only ~ 5%. Further kinetic analysis elicited a start of protein translation after 1 h, with a maximum after 4 h and drop of transgene expression after 48 h post-transfection, in agreement with the transient nature of mRNA. Conclusions: Charge-mediated complexation of mRNA to NPs enables efficient and fast cellular delivery and subsequent protein translation. While cellular uptake of both NP types was comparable, mRNA transgene expression was superior to polymer-based NPs when delivered by lipid-polymer NPs.