Naoki Sakaguchi

Potentiation of pH-sensitive polymer-modified liposomes with cationic lipid inclusion as antigen delivery carriers for cancer immunotherapy.

Cationic lipid-incorporated liposomes modified with pH-sensitive polymers were prepared by introducing 3, 5-didodecyloxybenzamidine as a cationic lipid to egg yolk phosphatidylcholine liposomes modified with 3-methylglutarylated hyperbranched poly(glycidol) (MGlu-HPG) as a pH-sensitive polymer. These liposomes were stable at neutral pH, but were destabilized below pH 6.0 because MGlu-HPG changed its characteristics from hydrophilic to hydrophobic in response to the pH decrease. Cationic lipid inclusion improved their pH sensitivity at weakly acidic pH and association of liposomes with murine dendritic cell (DC) lines. Cationic lipid-incorporated liposomes delivered entrapped ovalbumin (OVA) molecules not only to cytosol but also to endosome/lysosome. Treatment with cationic lipid-incorporated liposomes induced up-regulation of antigen presentation-involved molecules on DCs, the promotion of cytokine production, and antigen presentation via both major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and II molecules. Especially, antigen presentation via MHC class II was promoted by cationic lipid inclusion, which might correspond to efficient endosome/lysosome delivery of OVA. Subcutaneous administration of OVA-loaded cationic lipid-incorporated liposomes induced antigen-specific antibody production in serum and Th1-dominant immune responses in the spleen. Furthermore, administration of the cationic lipid-incorporated liposomes to mice bearing E.G7-OVA tumor more significantly reduced the tumor volume than liposomes without cationic lipids. Therefore, cationic lipid inclusion into pH-sensitive polymer-modified liposomes, which can achieve both efficient antigen intracellular delivery and activation of antigen presenting cell, is an effective approach to develop antigen carriers for efficient cancer immunotherapy.

Gene delivery to dendritic cells mediated by complexes of lipoplexes and pH-sensitive fusogenic polymer-modified liposomes.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent professional antigen presenting cells that are useful for cancer immunotherapy. We previously reported the preparation and characterization of complexes of lipoplexes with pH-sensitive fusogenic liposomes, which comprise polymers based on poly(glycidol) with carboxyl groups, to transfect various malignant cell lines. The present study applied this kind of vectors to transfection of a murine DC line DC2.4. We first optimized the ratios of their components for efficient transfection. We subsequently investigated the effects of ligands and pH-sensitive polymers to improve transfection activities. Our results indicate that the anionic surface derived from pH-sensitive polymers might be recognized by scavenger receptors on DC2.4 cells. In addition, no effects on transfection or cell association were observed by attaching ligands such as transferrin and mannan. We found that more sensitive pH-responding polymers led to higher transfection activities into DC2.4 cells, which suggest that endosomal escape is important for transfection into DC2.4 cells. These complexes with pH-sensitive fusogenic polymers exhibited higher transfection activity toward DC2.4 cells than some commercial reagents and hence may be useful as a gene vector for DCs.

The correlation between fusion capability and transfection activity in hybrid complexes of lipoplexes and pH-sensitive liposomes

To obtain highly potent nonviral vectors with pH-sensitive fusion ability, we prepared three hybrid complexes consisting of transferrin-conjugated pH-sensitive fusogenic polymer-modified liposomes and lipoplex using three kinds of carboxylated poly(glycidol) derivatives. These hybrid complexes were stable at neutral pH, but they became fusogenic under mildly acidic conditions. Furthermore, their fusion capability varied depending on the polymer used for their preparation. Although these complexes achieved transfection of cells with higher efficiency than the parent lipoplex, the complex with higher fusion ability exhibited transfection with higher efficiency, demonstrating close correlation between the fusion ability of the complexes and their transfection activity. The hybrid complex with the highest fusion ability induced transgene expression of HeLa cells at almost 100% efficiency using enhanced green fluorescent protein gene. In addition, this complex showed much more efficient transfection than some widely used transfection reagents without cellular damage toward various human cancer-derived cell lines.

pH-sensitive polymer-liposome-based antigen delivery systems potentiated with interferon-γ gene lipoplex for efficient cancer immunotherapy

Potentiation of pH-sensitive liposome-based antigen carriers with IFN-γ gene lipoplexes was attempted to achieve efficient induction of tumor-specific immunity. 3-Methylglutarylated poly(glycidol) (MGluPG)-modified liposomes and cationic liposomes were used, respectively, for the delivery of antigenic protein ovalbumin (OVA) and IFN-γ-encoding plasmid DNA (pDNA). The MGluPG-modified liposomes and the cationic liposome-pDNA complexes (lipoplexes) formed hybrid complexes via electrostatic interactions after their mixing in aqueous solutions. The hybrid complexes co-delivered OVA and IFN-γ-encoding pDNA into DC2.4 cells, a murine dendritic cell line, as was the case of MGluPG-modified liposomes for OVA or the lipoplexes for pDNA. Both the lipoplexes and the hybrid complexes transfected DC2.4 cells and induced IFN-γ protein production, but transfection activities of the hybrid complexes were lower than those of the parent lipoplexes. Subcutaneous administration of hybrid complexes to mice bearing E.G7-OVA tumor reduced tumor volumes, which might result from the induction of OVA-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). However, the hybrid complex-induced antitumor effect was the same level of the MGluPG-modified liposome-mediated antitumor immunity. In contrast, an extremely strong antitumor immune response was derived when these liposomes and lipoplexes without complexation were injected subcutaneously at the same site of tumor-bearing mice. Immunohistochemical analysis of tumor sections revealed that immunization through the liposome-lipoplex combination promoted the infiltration of CTLs to tumors at an early stage of treatment compared with liposomes, resulting in strong therapeutic effects.

pH-Responsive Micelle-Based Cytoplasmic Delivery System for Induction of Cellular Immunity

(1) Background: Cytoplasmic delivery of antigens is crucial for the induction of cellular immunity, which is an important immune response for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. To date, fusogenic protein-incorporated liposomes and pH-responsive polymer-modified liposomes have been used to achieve cytoplasmic delivery of antigen via membrane rupture or fusion with endosomes. However, a more versatile cytoplasmic delivery system is desired for practical use. For this study, we developed pH-responsive micelles composed of dilauroyl phosphatidylcholine (DLPC) and deoxycholic acid and investigated their cytoplasmic delivery performance and immunity-inducing capability. (2) Methods: Interaction of micelles with fluorescence dye-loaded liposomes, intracellular distribution of micelles, and antigenic proteins were observed. Finally, antigen-specific cellular immune response was evaluated in vivo using ELIspot assay. (3) Results: Micelles induced leakage of contents from liposomes via lipid mixing at low pH. Micelles were taken up by dendritic cells mainly via macropinocytosis and delivered ovalbumin (OVA) into the cytosol. After intradermal injection of micelles and OVA, OVA-specific cellular immunity was induced in the spleen. (4) Conclusions: pH-responsive micelles composed of DLPC and deoxycholic acid are promising as enhancers of cytosol delivery of antigens and the induction capability of cellular immunity for the treatment of cancer immunotherapy and infectious diseases.

A two-component micelle with emergent pH responsiveness by mixing dilauroyl phosphocholine and deoxycholic acid and its delivery of proteins into the cytosol

Providing appropriate pH responsiveness for drug delivery nanoparticles is one of the major issues in developing a new generation of delivery systems. This paper reports that, when phosphocholine and a bile acid were mixed, the resultant two-component micelle gained pH responsiveness, while the individual components did not show any such responsiveness. The pH responsiveness was shown to be determined by the chemical structure, especially the positions and chirality of the OH groups, of the bile acid, and the sensitivity was determined by the alkyl chain length of the phosphocholine. The best combination for evading endocytosis was dilauroyl phosphocholine (DLPC) and deoxycholic acid (DA). Small-angle X-ray scattering revealed that the pH responsiveness was related to the change of surface hydrophobicity, namely, decreasing pH led to protonation of the carboxylic acid, resulting in aggregation of the preceding micelles. We assume that particles that become hydrophobic in this way can start interacting with the endocytotic bilayer, which eventually leads to rupture of the endocytotic vesicle. This mechanism is well supported by the finding that fluorescein-conjugated ovalbumin proteins were transported into the cytosol when they were co-administered with DLPC/DA.