Department of Core Antisense Research, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 2855 Gazelle Court, Carlsbad, CA 92010, USA.
Department of Antisense Drug, Discovery, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 2855 Gazelle Court, Carlsbad, CA 92010, USA.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2018 Apr 20;46(7):3579-3594. doi: 10.1093/nar/gky145.
Chemically modified antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) with phosphorothioate (PS) linkages have been extensively studied as research and therapeutic agents. PS-ASOs can enter the cell and trigger cleavage of complementary RNA by RNase H1 even in the absence of transfection reagent. A number of cell surface proteins have been identified that bind PS-ASOs and mediate their cellular uptake; however, the mechanisms that lead to productive internalization of PS-ASOs are not well understood. Here, we characterized the interaction between PS-ASOs and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). We found that PS-ASOs trafficked together with EGF and EGFR into clathrin-coated pit structures. Their co-localization was also observed at early endosomes and inside enlarged late endosomes. Reduction of EGFR decreased PS-ASO activity without affecting EGF-mediated signaling pathways and overexpression of EGFR increased PS-ASO activity in cells. Furthermore, reduction of EGFR delays PS-ASO trafficking from early to late endosomes. Thus, EGFR binds to PS-ASOs at the cell surface and mediates essential steps for active (productive) cellular uptake of PS-ASOs through its cargo-dependent trafficking processes which migrate PS-ASOs from early to late endosomes. This EGFR-mediated process can also serve as an additional model to better understand the mechanism of intracellular uptake and endosomal release of PS-ASOs.
具有硫代磷酸酯 (PS) 键的化学修饰反义寡核苷酸 (ASO) 已被广泛研究作为研究和治疗剂。PS-ASO 可以进入细胞并通过 RNase H1 触发互补 RNA 的切割,即使在没有转染试剂的情况下也是如此。已经鉴定出许多细胞表面蛋白可以结合 PS-ASO 并介导其细胞摄取;然而,导致 PS-ASO 有效内化的机制尚不清楚。在这里,我们研究了 PS-ASO 与表皮生长因子受体 (EGFR) 之间的相互作用。我们发现 PS-ASO 与 EGF 和 EGFR 一起运送到网格蛋白包被的陷窝结构中。在早期内体和扩大的晚期内体中也观察到它们的共定位。EGFR 的减少降低了 PS-ASO 的活性,而不影响 EGF 介导的信号通路,并且 EGFR 的过表达增加了细胞中 PS-ASO 的活性。此外,EGFR 的减少会延迟 PS-ASO 从早期内体到晚期内体的转运。因此,EGFR 在细胞表面与 PS-ASO 结合,并通过其货物依赖性运输过程介导 PS-ASO 主动(有效)细胞摄取的基本步骤,这些过程将 PS-ASO 从早期内体迁移到晚期内体。这种 EGFR 介导的过程也可以作为更好地理解 PS-ASO 细胞内摄取和内体释放机制的附加模型。