An Amphipathic Structure of a Dipropylglycine-Containing Helical Peptide with Sufficient Length Enables Safe and Effective Intracellular siRNA Delivery.
Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo)
; 71(3): 250-256, 2023.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36858531
Amphipathic peptides composed of cationic amino acids and hydrophobic amino acids have cell-penetrating ability and are often used as a delivery tool for membrane-impermeable compounds. Small interfering RNA (siRNAs) are one of the delivery targets for such cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). Cationic CPPs can associate with anionic siRNAs by electrostatic interactions resulting in the formation of nano-sized complexes, which can deliver siRNAs intracellularly. CPPs containing unnatural amino acids offer promising tools to siRNA delivery. However, the detailed structure-activity relationship in siRNA delivery has been rarely studied. In the current study, we designed peptides containing dipropylglycine (Dpg) and explored the cellular uptake and cytotoxicity of peptide/siRNA complexes. The amphipathic structure of the peptides played a key role in complexation with siRNAs and intracellular siRNA delivery. In the amphipathic peptides, cellular uptake of siRNA increased with increasing peptide length, but cytotoxicity was reduced. A peptide containing four Dpg exhibited an effective gene-silencing effect with small amounts of peptides without cytotoxicity in medium containing serum. These findings will be helpful for the design of novel CPPs for siRNA delivery.
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1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Valina
/
Peptídeos Penetradores de Células
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article