Reductively responsive siRNA-conjugated hydrogel nanoparticles for gene silencing.

A critical need still remains for effective delivery of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics to target tissues and cells. Self-assembled lipid- and polymer-based systems have been most extensively explored for transfection with small interfering RNA (siRNA) in liver and cancer therapies. Safety and compatibility of materials implemented in delivery systems must be ensured to maximize therapeutic indices. Hydrogel nanoparticles of defined dimensions and compositions, prepared via a particle molding process that is a unique off-shoot of soft lithography known as particle replication in nonwetting templates (PRINT), were explored in these studies as delivery vectors. Initially, siRNA was encapsulated in particles through electrostatic association and physical entrapment. Dose-dependent gene silencing was elicited by PEGylated hydrogels at low siRNA doses without cytotoxicity. To prevent disassociation of cargo from particles after systemic administration or during postfabrication processing for surface functionalization, a polymerizable siRNA pro-drug conjugate with a degradable, disulfide linkage was prepared. Triggered release of siRNA from the pro-drug hydrogels was observed under a reducing environment while cargo retention and integrity were maintained under physiological conditions. Gene silencing efficiency and cytocompatibility were optimized by screening the amine content of the particles. When appropriate control siRNA cargos were loaded into hydrogels, gene knockdown was only encountered for hydrogels containing releasable, target-specific siRNAs, accompanied by minimal cell death. Further investigation into shape, size, and surface decoration of siRNA-conjugated hydrogels should enable efficacious targeted in vivo RNAi therapies.

Osmolyte Effects on Monoclonal Antibody Stability and Concentration-Dependent Protein Interactions with Water and Common Osmolytes.

Preferential interactions of proteins with water and osmolytes play a major role in controlling the thermodynamics of protein solutions. While changes in protein stability and shifts in phase behavior are often reported with the addition of osmolytes, the underlying protein interactions with water and/or osmolytes are typically inferred rather than measured directly. In this work, Kirkwood-Buff integrals for protein-water interactions (G12) and protein-osmolyte interactions (G23) were determined as a function of osmolyte concentration from density measurements of antistreptavidin immunoglobulin gamma-1 (AS-IgG1) in ternary aqueous solutions for a set of common neutral osmolytes: sucrose, trehalose, sorbitol, and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). For sucrose and PEG solutions, both protein-water and protein-osmolyte interactions depend strongly on osmolyte concentrations (c3). Strikingly, both osmolytes change from being preferentially excluded to preferentially accumulated with increasing c3. In contrast, sorbitol and trehalose solutions do not show large enough preferential interactions to be detected by densimetry. G12 and G23 values are used to estimate the transfer free energy for native AS-IgG1 (Δµ2N) and compared with existing models. AS-IgG1 unfolding via calorimetry shows a linear increase in midpoint temperatures as a function of trehalose, sucrose, and sorbitol concentrations, but the opposite behavior for PEG. Together, the results highlight limitations of existing models and common assumptions regarding the mechanisms of protein stabilization by osmolytes. Finally, PEG preferential interactions destabilize the Fab regions of AS-IgG1 more so than the CH2 or CH3 domains, illustrating preferential interactions can be specific to different protein domains.

Molecular recognition using corona phase complexes made of synthetic polymers adsorbed on carbon nanotubes.

Understanding molecular recognition is of fundamental importance in applications such as therapeutics, chemical catalysis and sensor design. The most common recognition motifs involve biological macromolecules such as antibodies and aptamers. The key to biorecognition consists of a unique three-dimensional structure formed by a folded and constrained bioheteropolymer that creates a binding pocket, or an interface, able to recognize a specific molecule. Here, we show that synthetic heteropolymers, once constrained onto a single-walled carbon nanotube by chemical adsorption, also form a new corona phase that exhibits highly selective recognition for specific molecules. To prove the generality of this phenomenon, we report three examples of heteropolymer-nanotube recognition complexes for riboflavin, L-thyroxine and oestradiol. In each case, the recognition was predicted using a two-dimensional thermodynamic model of surface interactions in which the dissociation constants can be tuned by perturbing the chemical structure of the heteropolymer. Moreover, these complexes can be used as new types of spatiotemporal sensors based on modulation of the carbon nanotube photoemission in the near-infrared, as we show by tracking riboflavin diffusion in murine macrophages.