Kanjiro Miyata

PEG-Detachable Polyplex Micelles Based on Disulfide-Linked Block Catiomers as Bioresponsive Nonviral Gene Vectors

PEG-based polyplex micelles, which can detach the surrounding PEG chains responsive to the intracellular reducing environment, were developed as nonviral gene vectors. A novel block catiomer, PEG-SS-P[Asp(DET)], was designed as follows: (i) insertion of biocleavable disulfide linkage between PEG and polycation segment to trigger PEG detachment and (ii) a cationic segment based on poly(aspartamide) with a flanking N-(2-aminoethyl)-2-aminoethyl group, P[Asp(DET)], in which the Asp(DET) unit acts as a buffering moiety inducing endosomal escape with minimal cytotoxicity. The polyplex micelles from PEG-SS-P[Asp(DET)] and plasmid DNA (pDNA) stably dispersed in an aqueous medium with a narrowly distributed size range of approximately 80 nm due to the formation of hydrophilic PEG palisades while undergoing aggregation by the addition of 10 mM dithiothreitol (DTT) at the stoichiometric charge ratio, indicating the PEG detachment from the micelles through the disulfide cleavage. The PEG-SS-P[Asp(DET)] micelles showed both a 1-3 orders of magnitude higher gene transfection efficiency and a more rapid onset of gene expression than PEG-P[Asp(DET)] micelles without disulfide linkages, due to much more effective endosomal escape based on the PEG detachment in endosome. These findings suggest that the PEG-SS-P[Asp(DET)] micelle may have promising potential as a nonviral gene vector exerting high transfection with regulated timing and minimal cytotoxicity.

Environment-Responsive Block Copolymer Micelles with a Disulfide Cross-Linked Core for Enhanced siRNA Delivery

A core-shell-type polyion complex (PIC) micelle with a disulfide cross-linked core was prepared through the assembly of iminothiolane-modified poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(L-lysine) [PEG-b-(PLL-IM)] and siRNA at a characteristic optimum mixing ratio. The PIC micelles showed a spherical shape of approximately 60 nm in diameter with a narrow distribution. The micellar structure was maintained at physiological ionic strength but was disrupted under reductive conditions because of the cleavage of disulfide cross-links, which is desirable for siRNA release in the intracellular reductive environment. Importantly, environment-responsive PIC micelles achieved 100-fold higher siRNA transfection efficacy compared with non-cross-linked PICs prepared from PEG-b-poly(L-lysine), which were not stable at physiological ionic strength. PICs formed with PEG-b-(PLL-IM) at nonoptimum ratios did not assemble into micellar structure and did not achieve gene silencing following siRNA transfection. These findings show the feasibility of core cross-linked PIC micelles as carriers for therapeutic siRNA and show that stable micellar structure is critical for effective siRNA delivery into target cells.

Polyplexes from poly(aspartamide) bearing 1,2-diaminoethane side chains induce pH-selective, endosomal membrane destabilization with amplified transfection and negligible cytotoxicity

Polyplexes assembled from poly(aspartamide) derivatives bearing 1,2-diaminoethane side chains, [PAsp(DET)] display amplified in vitro and in vivo transfection activity with minimal cytotoxicity. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in this unique function of PAsp(DET) polyplexes, the physicochemical and biological properties of PAsp(DET) were thoroughly evaluated with a control bearing 1,3-diaminopropane side chains, PAsp(DPT). Between PAsp(DET) and PAsp(DPT) polyplexes, we observed negligible physicochemical differences in particle size and zeta-potential. However, the one methylene variation between 1,2-diaminoethane and 1,3-diaminopropane drastically altered the transfection profiles. In sharp contrast to the constantly high transfection efficacy of PAsp(DET) polyplexes, even in regions of excess polycation to plasmid DNA (pDNA) (high N/P ratio), PAsp(DPT) polyplexes showed a significant drop in the transfection efficacy at high N/P ratios due to the progressively increased cytotoxicity with N/P ratio. The high cytotoxicity of PAsp(DPT) was closely correlated to its strong destabilization effect on cellular membrane estimated by hemolysis, leakage assay of cytoplasmic enzyme (LDH assay), and confocal laser scanning microscopic observation. Interestingly, PAsp(DET) revealed minimal membrane destabilization at physiological pH, yet there was significant enhancement in the membrane destabilization at the acidic pH mimicking the late endosomal compartment (pH approximately 5). Apparently, the pH-selective membrane destabilization profile of PAsp(DET) corresponded to a protonation change in the flanking diamine unit, i.e., the monoprotonated gauche form at physiological pH and diprotonated anti form at acidic pH. These significant results suggest that the protonated charge state of 1,2-diaminoethane may play a substantial role in the endosomal disruption. Moreover, this novel approach for endosomal disruption neither perturbs the membranes of cytoplasmic vesicles nor organelles at physiological pH. Thus, PAsp(DET) polyplexes, residing in late endosomal or lysosomal states, smoothly exit into the cytoplasm for successful transfection without compromising cell viability.

A PEG‐Based Biocompatible Block Catiomer with High Buffering Capacity for the Construction of Polyplex Micelles Showing Efficient Gene Transfer toward Primary Cells

Nonviral gene vectors from synthetic catiomers (polyplexes) are a promising alternative to viral vectors. In particular, many recent efforts have been devoted to the construction of biocompatible polyplexes for in vivo nonviral gene therapy. A promising approach in this regard is the use of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)‐based block catiomers, which form a nanoscaled core–shell polyplex with biocompatible PEG palisades. In this study, a series of PEG‐based block catiomers with different amine functionalities were newly prepared by a simple and affordable synthetic procedure based on an aminolysis reaction, and their utility as gene carriers was investigated. This study revealed that the block catiomers carrying the ethylenediamine unit at the side chain are capable of efficient and less toxic transfection even toward primary cells, highlighting critical structural factors of the cationic units in the construction of polyplex‐type gene vectors. Moreover, the availability of the polyplex micelle for transfection with primary osteoblasts will facilitate its use for bone regeneration in vivo mediated by nonviral gene transfection.

Odd-even effect of repeating aminoethylene units in the side chain of N-substituted polyaspartamides on gene transfection profiles

A series of the N-substituted polyaspartamides possessing repeating aminoethylene units in the side chain was prepared in this study to identify polyplexes with effective endosomal escape and low cytotoxicity. All cationic N-substituted polyaspartamides showed appreciably lower cytotoxicity than that of commercial transfection reagents. Interestingly, a distinctive odd-even effect of the repeating aminoethylene units in the polymer side chain on the efficiencies of endosomal escape and transfection to several cell lines was observed. The polyplexes from the polymers with an even number of repeating aminoethylene units (PA-Es) achieved an order of magnitude higher transfection efficiency, without marked cytotoxicity, than those of the polymers with an odd number of repeating aminoethylene units (PA-Os). This odd-even effect agreed well with the buffering capacity of these polymers as well as their capability to disrupt membrane integrity selectively at endosomal pH, leading to highly effective endosomal escape of the PA-E polyplexes. Furthermore, the formation of a polyvalent charged array with precise spacing between protonated amino groups in the polymer side chain was shown to be essential for effective disruption of the endosomal membrane, thus facilitating transport of the polyplex into the cytoplasm. These data provide useful knowledge for designing polycations to construct safe and efficient nonviral gene carriers.

Polyplex Micelles with Cyclic RGD Peptide Ligands and Disulfide Cross-Links Directing to the Enhanced Transfection via Controlled Intracellular Trafficking

Thiolated c(RGDfK)-poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(lysine) (PEG-PLys), a novel block polymer that has a cyclic RGD peptide in the PEG terminus and thiol groups in the PLys side chain, was prepared and applied to the preparation of targetable disulfide cross-linked polyplex micelles through ion complexation with plasmid DNA (pDNA). The obtained polyplex micelles achieved remarkably enhanced transfection efficiency against cultured HeLa cells possessing alpha(v)beta(3) integrin receptors, which are selectively recognized by cyclic RGD peptides, demonstrating the synergistic effect of cyclic RGD peptide ligands on the micelle surface and disulfide cross-links in the core to exert the smooth release of pDNA in the intracellular environment via reductive cleavage. This enhancement was not due to an increase in the uptake amount of polyplex micelles but to a change in their intracellular trafficking route. Detailed confocal laser scanning microscopic observation revealed that polyplex micelles with cyclic RGD peptide ligands were distributed in the perinuclear region in the early stages preferentially through caveolae-mediated endocytosis, which may be a desirable pathway for avoiding the lysosomal degradation of delivered genes. Hence, this approach to introducing ligands and cross-links into the polyplex micelles is promising for the construction of nonviral gene vectors that enhance transfection by controlling intracellular distribution.

Targeted polymeric micelles for siRNA treatment of experimental cancer by intravenous injection

Small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) cancer therapies administered by intravenous injection require a delivery system for transport from the bloodstream into the cytoplasm of diseased cells to perform the function of gene silencing. Here we describe nanosized polymeric micelles that deliver siRNA to solid tumors and elicit a therapeutic effect. Stable multifunctional micelle structures on the order of 45 nm in size formed by spontaneous self-assembly of block copolymers with siRNA. Block copolymers used for micelle formation were designed and synthesized to contain three main features: a siRNA binding segment containing thiols, a hydrophilic nonbinding segment, and a cell-surface binding peptide. Specifically, poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(L-lysine) (PEG-b-PLL) comprising lysine amines modified with 2-iminothiolane (2IT) and the cyclo-Arg-Gly-Asp (cRGD) peptide on the PEG terminus was used. Modification of PEG-b-PLL with 2IT led to improved control of micelle formation and also increased stability in the blood compartment, while installation of the cRGD peptide improved biological activity. Incorporation of siRNA into stable micelle structures containing the cRGD peptide resulted in increased gene silencing ability, improved cell uptake, and broader subcellular distribution in vitro and also improved accumulation in both the tumor mass and tumor-associated blood vessels following intravenous injection into mice. Furthermore, stable and targeted micelles inhibited the growth of subcutaneous HeLa tumor models and demonstrated gene silencing in the tumor mass following treatment with antiangiogenic siRNAs. This new micellar nanomedicine could potentially expand the utility of siRNA-based therapies for cancer treatments that require intravenous injection.

Enhanced endosomal escape of siRNA-incorporating hybrid nanoparticles from calcium phosphate and PEG-block charge-conversional polymer for efficient gene knockdown with negligible cytotoxicity.

Development of safe and efficient short interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery system for RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics is a current critical challenge in drug delivery field. The major barriers in siRNA delivery into the target cytoplasm are the fragility of siRNA in the body, the inefficient cellular uptake, and the acidic endosomal entrapment. To overcome these barriers, this study is presenting a hybrid nanocarrier system composed of calcium phosphate comprising the block copolymer of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and charge-conversional polymer (CCP) as a siRNA vehicle. In these nanoparticles, the calcium phosphate forms a stable core to incorporate polyanions, siRNA and PEG-CCP. The synthesized PEG-CCP is a non-toxic endosomal escaping unit, which induces endosomal membrane destabilization by the produced polycation through degradation of the flanking cis-aconitylamide of CCP in acidic endosomes. The nanoparticles prepared by mixing of each component was confirmed to possess excellent siRNA-loading efficiency (∼80% of dose), and to present relatively homogenous spherical shape with small size. With negligible cytotoxicity, the nanoparticles efficiently induced vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA knockdown (∼80%) in pancreatic cancer cells (PanC-1). Confocal laser scanning microscopic observation revealed rapid endosomal escape of siRNA with the nanoparticles for the excellent mRNA knockdown. The results obtained demonstrate our hybrid nanoparticle as a promising candidate to develop siRNA therapy.

A Phenylboronate‐Functionalized Polyion Complex Micelle for ATP‐Triggered Release of siRNA

Therapeutics based on small interfering RNA (siRNA) offer an attractive clinical option because of its ability to silence genes in a highly sequence-specific manner. [1] A key challenge lies in developing a delivery system that helps protect the siRNAs from endogenous RNase degradation while allowing for controlled pharmacokinetics. One promising approach is a formulation of polyion complex (PIC) micelles that spontaneously form in an aqueous environment simply through electrostatic interactions between the anionic siRNA and cationic polymers. With versatile designs of the counterpart cationic polymers, representative poly(ethylene glycol) based block co-polymers, many creative PIC-based strategies have emerged, some of which have shown encouraging in vitro gene silencing abilities. However, in general, these PIC-based carriers suffer from instability under physiological conditions, primarily because of the relatively short chain length of the siRNA, that is 20–25 nucleotides, which results in poor thermodynamic stability. Therefore, stabilization of the PIC-based carriers so that programmed destabilization upon arrival at the site of intracellular targets (to release siRNA) has been of interest. Current efforts have focused on either one or combinations of the following three representative approaches: covalent conjugation of siRNAs to a homing polymer, introduction of hydrophobic moieties to reinforce the core-aggregation, and crosslinking the core aggregate by disulfide bridging. 12] As such, the combination of these approaches often results in a highly complex structure and method of preparation. Herein, we describe a sophisticated solution that can remarkably simplify the synthesis of PICs. It uses a phenylboronate functionality, which incorporates all of the aforementioned methods of stabilization (Scheme 1) while maintaining a wide window of control for environmental sensitivity. Phenylboronic acid (PBA) is a synthetic molecule capable of forming reversible covalent esters with 1,2or 1,3-cis-diols including on a ribose ring, a structure which is present at the 3’ end of RNAs and several kinds of ribonucleotides. Because of this property, PBA has historically been used as a ligand for RNA in affinity chromatography. Therefore, this binding property offers a facile route for chemical conjugation of siRNAs to the pendant PBA groups. Once electrostatically condensed into the PIC, the chances of equilibrium binding are increased, in which intermolecular cross-links could also form because of the bis-bidentate ribose arrangement at the 3’ end of the double-stranded siRNA, thereby further stabilizing the complex. Furthermore, PBA is unique in that it undergoes a dramatic inversion in its level of hydrophobicity depending on the degree of acid disassociation; it is strongly hydrophobic when uncharged but it becomes hydrophilic when negatively charged at pH values above its pKa. As shown in Figure 1, the binding between PBA and siRNAs is essentially a reversible equilibrium process dependent on the concentrations of each species. These features can be used to fine-tune or switch the stability of the complex, which is relevant to creating a system that is sensitive to the interand intracellular environments. Herein, we demonstrate that the PBA-assisted PIC micelles can be tailored to exhibit a dramatic disruption accompanied by the release of siRNAs in response to a change in the ribose concentration (which parallels events in the intracellular environment). A platform cationic polymer poly(ethylene glycol)-blockpoly(l-lysine) (PEG-b-PLys) was first prepared, the lysine residues of which were quantitatively modified with 3-fluoro4-carboxyphenylboronic acid (FPBA) to different extents. The weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of PEG and the mean degree of polymerization of PLys were determined to be 12000 Da and 42, respectively (Supporting Information, Table S1). The synthesized polymers are referred to as PEGb-P(Lys/FPBAX)42, where X denotes number of FPBA units introduced per polymer chain. According to the scattered light intensity of the polymer solutions, polymers were soluble (at 5 mgmL ) in HEPES buffered solution (HBS, pH 7.3) up to 55% FPBA modification, that is (PEG-b-P(Lys/FPBA23)42, however, those with 66 % (that is (PEG-b-P(Lys/FPBA28)42) or higher degrees of FPBA modification were partially insoluble because of the strong hydrophobicity of FPBA (data not shown). The HBS-soluble series of polymers, that is PEG-b-P(Lys/FPBA0,10,19,23)42, were allowed to complex with siRNA at various N/P ratios, which is defined as the molar [*] M. Naito, Dr. K. Kataoka Department of Materials Engineering, The University of Tokyo Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan) E-mail: kataoka@bmw.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp Homepage: http://www.bmw.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

Three-layered polyplex micelle as a multifunctional nanocarrier platform for light-induced systemic gene transfer

Nanocarriers responding to light have great potential for pinpoint therapy, and recent studies have revealed promising in vivo activity. However, light-selective gene transfer still remains challenging in the systemic application. Here we report systemic light-responsive nanocarriers for gene delivery developed through the sequential self-assembly of ABC-type triblock copolymer/DNA/dendrimeric photosensitizer, forming polyplex micelles with three-layered functional nanocompartments. The DNA-packaged core is covered by the photosensitizer-incorporated intermediate layer, which is encompassed by an outer shielding shell. This three-layered structure permits multistep photosensitizer and DNA delivery into a solid tumour by a systemic route: the shielding layer minimizes unfavourable interactions with blood components, and the photosensitizer is delivered to endo-/lysosomal membranes to facilitate light-selective cytoplasmic translocation of the micelles, accomplishing DNA delivery into the nucleus to exert gene expression. The polyplex micelles display >100-fold photoenhanced gene expression in cultured cells and exhibit light-induced in vivo gene transfer in solid tumours following systemic administration.