Chemically defined polyethylene glycol siRNA conjugates with enhanced gene silencing effect

The therapeutic application of siRNA suffers from poor bioavailability caused by rapid degradation and elimination. The covalent attachment of PEG is a universal concept to increase molecular size and enhance the pharmacokinetic properties of biomacromolecules. We devised a facile approach for attachment of PEG molecules with a defined molecular weight, and successful purification of the resulting conjugates. We directly conjugated structurally defined PEG chains with twelve ethylene glycol units to the 3′-terminal hydroxyl group of both sense and antisense strands via an aminoalkyl linker. The conjugates were easily purified by HPLC and successful PEGylation and molecule integrity were confirmed by ESI-MS. The evaluation of in vitro gene knockdown of two different targets in MCF-7 breast cancer cells showed stable pharmacologic activity when combined with a standard transfection reagent. Sense strand PEGylation even increased the silencing potency of a CRCX4-siRNA which had modest activity in its wild-type form. The results indicate that PEG chains at the 3′-terminus of both strands of siRNA are well tolerated by the RNAi effector. The attachment of short, chemically defined PEG chains is a feasible approach to improve the pharmacokinetic properties of siRNA, and can be combined with other targeted and untargeted delivery vehicles.     

Inheritance and expression of a transgene insert in an aneuploid tobacco line

A T-DNA locus comprising nptII, uidA and nos genes — all under the control of the nos promoter (this locus was designated K because it encodes resistance to Kanamycin) - was found to be inherited erratically in a transgenic tobacco line. This anomalous behavior was partially explained following a karyotype analysis of plants representing several generations: these plants were aneuploids, presumably for the K-containing chromosome. During four generations of sexual propagation, transgenic plants that were either trisomic or tetrasomic for the K-containing chromosome (i.e. 2n=49 or 2n=50, respectively) were obtained. The trisomic plants (2n=48+1) were virtually indistinguishable phenotypically from normal euploids (2n=4x=48), whereas the tetrasomic plants (2n=48+2) were smaller, had somewhat misshapen leaves and exhibited reduced fertility. Although the amount of NPTH protein in different trisomic (K--, KK-, KKK) and tetrasomic (KK--, KKK-) plants was generally consistent with a K dosage effect, the genetic behavior of each trisomic — with respect to segregation of Kan^R and marker gene activity in progeny — was unique and not completely explicable by invoking aneuploidy. Specifically, unexpected gains or losses of K could occur, suggesting the formation of double reductional gametes and/or frequent gene conversion at this locus. The susceptibility of K locus marker genes to trans-inactivation in the trisomic and tetrasomic lines was tested by crossing in partially homologous silencing loci. In all transgenotypes tested, the three K marker genes were sensitive to trans-silencing, which was accompanied by methylation in all copies of the nos promoter. In addition to this directed inactivation/methylation, the K locus could also undergo infrequent, spontaneous partial methylation, which produced stable epialleles. In most plants, however, the multiple copies of the nos promoter at this locus remained unmethylated and active through four generations in all transgenotypes examined. The significance of these results for irregular inheritance patterns, aneuploid syndromes and homology-dependent gene silencing is discussed.     

Macromolecular Drug Delivery: Basic Principles and Therapeutic Applications

Macromolecular drugs hold great promise as novel therapeutics of several major disorders, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, their use is limited by lack of efficient, safe, and specific delivery strategies. Successful development of such strategies requires interdisciplinary collaborations involving researchers with expertise on e.g., polymer chemistry, cell biology, nano technology, systems biology, advanced imaging methods, and clinical medicine. This poses obvious challenges to the scientific community, but also provides opportunities for the unexpected at the interface between different disciplines. This review summarizes recent studies of macromolecular delivery that should be of interest to researchers involved in macromolecular drug synthesis as well as in vitro and in vivo drug delivery studies.     

RNA干扰技术及其在细胞周期研究中的应用

RNA干扰(RNA interference,RNA i)是由双链RNA(doub le-stranded RNA,dsRNA)引发的转录后基因沉默(posttran-scridptional gene silenc ing,PTGS)。dsRNA经D icer酶降解成21-23nt的siRNA,并以其为模板,特定位点、特定间隔降解与之序列相应的mRNA。随着RNA i机制的深入研究与广泛应用,目前该技术已经普遍应用于细胞周期研究中,在阐明各种调控机制的同时也为基因治疗提供了新靶点。