Jed N. Hassinger

Cell-penetrating peptides as transporters for morpholino oligomers: effects of amino acid composition on intracellular delivery and cytotoxicity

Arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are promising transporters for intracellular delivery of antisense morpholino oligomers (PMO). Here, we determined the effect of L-arginine, D-arginine and non-α amino acids on cellular uptake, splice-correction activity, cellular toxicity and serum binding for 24 CPP−PMOs. Insertion of 6-aminohexanoic acid (X) or β-alanine (B) residues into oligoarginine R8 decreased the cellular uptake but increased the splice-correction activity of the resulting compound, with a greater increase for the sequences containing more X residues. Cellular toxicity was not observed for any of the conjugates up to 10 μM. Up to 60 μM, only the conjugates with ⩾ 5 Xs exhibited time- and concentration-dependent toxicity. Substitution of L-arginine with D-arginine did not increase uptake or splice-correction activity. High concentration of serum significantly decreased the uptake and splice-correction activity of oligoarginine conjugates, but had much less effect on the conjugates containing X or B. In summary, incorporation of X/B into oligoarginine enhanced the antisense activity and serum-binding profile of CPP−PMO. Toxicity of X/B-containing conjugates was affected by the number of Xs, treatment time and concentration. More active, stable and less toxic CPPs can be designed by optimizing the position and number of R, D-R, X and B residues.

Chemical modifications of antisense morpholino oligomers enhance their efficacy against Ebola virus infection.

ABSTRACT Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) are uncharged nucleic acid-like molecules designed to inactivate the expression of specific genes via the antisense-based steric hindrance of mRNA translation. PMOs have been successful at knocking out viral gene expression and replication in the case of acute viral infections in animal models and have been well tolerated in human clinical trials. We propose that antisense PMOs represent a promising class of therapeutic agents that may be useful for combating filoviral infections. We have previously shown that mice treated with a PMO whose sequence is complementary to a region spanning the start codon of VP24 mRNA were protected against lethal Ebola virus challenge. In the present study, we report on the abilities of two additional VP24-specific PMOs to reduce the cell-free translation of a VP24 reporter, to inhibit the in vitro replication of Ebola virus, and to protect mice against lethal challenge when the PMOs are delivered prior to infection. Additionally, structure-activity relationship evaluations were conducted to assess the enhancement of antiviral efficacy associated with PMO chemical modifications that included conjugation with peptides of various lengths and compositions, positioning of conjugated peptides to either the 5′ or the 3′ terminus, and the conferring of charge modifications by the addition of piperazine moieties. Conjugation with arginine-rich peptides greatly enhanced the antiviral efficacy of VP24-specific PMOs in infected cells and mice during lethal Ebola virus challenge.

Gene-Specific Effects of Antisense Phosphorodiamidate Morpholino Oligomer-Peptide Conjugates on Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium in Pure Culture and in Tissue Culture

ABSTRACT The objective was to improve efficacy of antisense phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) by improving their uptake into bacterial cells. Four different bacterium-permeating peptides, RFFRFFRFFXB, RTRTRFLRRTXB, RXXRXXRXXB, and KFFKFFKFFKXB (X is 6-aminohexanoic acid and B isβ -alanine), were separately coupled to two different PMOs that are complementary to regions near the start codons of a luciferase reporter gene (luc) and a gene required for viability (acpP). Luc peptide-PMOs targeted to luc inhibited luciferase activity 23 to 80% in growing cultures of Escherichia coli. In cell-free translation reactions, Luc RTRTRFLRRTXB-PMO inhibited luciferase synthesis significantly more than the other Luc peptide-PMOs or the Luc PMO not coupled to peptide. AcpP peptide-PMOs targeted to acpP inhibited growth of E. coli or Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to various extents, depending on the strain. The concentrations of AcpP RFFRFFRFFXB-PMO, AcpP RTRTRFLRRTXB-PMO, AcpP KFFKFFKFFKXB-PMO, and ampicillin that reduced CFU/ml by 50% after 8 h of growth (50% inhibitory concentration [IC50]) were 3.6, 10.8, 9.5, and 7.5μ M, respectively, in E. coli W3110. Sequence-specific effects of AcpP peptide-PMOs were shown by rescuing growth of a merodiploid strain that expressed acpP with silent mutations in the region targeted by AcpP peptide-PMO. In Caco-2 cultures infected with enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), 10 μM AcpP RTRTRFLRRTXB-PMO or AcpP RFFRFFRFFXB-PMO essentially cleared the infection. The IC50 of either AcpP RTRTRFLRRTXB-PMO or AcpP RFFRFFRFFXB-PMO in EPEC-infected Caco-2 culture was 3 μM. In summary, RFFRFFRFFXB, RTRTRFLRRTXB, or KFFKFFKFFXB, when covalently bonded to PMO, significantly increased inhibition of expression of targeted genes compared to PMOs without attached peptide.