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Charge neutralized poly(β-amino ester) polyplex nanoparticles for delivery of self-amplifying RNA

Dastgerdi, Nazgol Karimi; Gumus, Nurcan; Bayraktutan, Hulya; Jackson, Darryl; Polra, Krunal; Mckay, Paul F; Atyabi, Fatemeh; ... Alexander, Cameron; + view all (2024) Charge neutralized poly(β-amino ester) polyplex nanoparticles for delivery of self-amplifying RNA. Nanoscale Advances 10.1039/D3NA00794D. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Therapeutic self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) is a promising approach for disease treatment, as it can be administered in lower doses than messenger RNA (mRNA) to achieve comparable protein production levels. However, saRNA requires an appropriate delivery vehicle to protect it during transit and facilitate its transfection. A widely-adopted approach has been to use polycations to condense these large anionic macromolecules into polyplex nanoparticles, however their high charge density often elicits cytotoxic effects. In this study we postulated that we could improve the potency and tolerability of such delivery vehicles by co-formulating poly(β-amino ester)s saRNA polyplexes with a non-toxic anionic polymer, γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) to neutralize partially this positive charge. Accordingly, we prepared a poly(β-amino ester) from 1,6-hexanedioldiacrylate (HDDA) and 4-aminobutanol (ABOL) and initially evaluated the physicochemical properties of the binary polyplexes (i.e. formed from polymer and saRNA only). Optimised binary polyplex formulations were then taken forward for preparation of ternary complexes containing pHDDA–ABOL, saRNA and γ-PGA. Our findings demonstrate that γ-PGA integration into polyplexes significantly enhanced transfection efficacy in HEK293T and A431 cells without affecting polyplex size. Notably, γ-PGA incorporation leads to a pronounced reduction in zeta potential, which reduced the toxicity of the ternary complexes in moDC, NIH3T3, and A431 cells. Furthermore, the presence of γ-PGA contributed to colloidal stability, reducing aggregation of the ternary complexes, as evidenced by insignificant changes in polydispersity index (PDI) after freeze–thaw cycles. Overall, these results suggest that incorporating the appropriate ratio of a polyanion such as γ-PGA with polycations in RNA delivery formulations is a promising way to improve the in vitro delivery of saRNA.

Type: Article
Title: Charge neutralized poly(β-amino ester) polyplex nanoparticles for delivery of self-amplifying RNA
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1039/D3NA00794D
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3NA00794D
Language: English
Keywords: © The Author(s), 2023. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy > Pharma and Bio Chemistry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10187715
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