Division of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
J Cell Mol Med. 2024 Jun;28(11):e18477. doi: 10.1111/jcmm.18477.
Given the pathological role of Tau aggregation in Alzheimer's disease (AD), our laboratory previously developed the novel Tau aggregation inhibitor peptide, RI-AG03. As Tau aggregates accumulate intracellularly, it is essential that the peptide can traverse the cell membrane. Here we examine the cellular uptake and intracellular trafficking of RI-AG03, in both a free and liposome-conjugated form. We also characterize the impact of adding the cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) sequences, polyarginine (polyR) or transactivator of transcription (TAT), to RI-AG03. Our data show that liposome conjugation of CPP containing RI-AG03 peptides, with either the polyR or TAT sequence, increased cellular liposome association three-fold. Inhibition of macropinocytosis modestly reduced the uptake of unconjugated and RI-AG03-polyR-linked liposomes, while having no effect on RI-AG03-TAT-conjugated liposome uptake. Further supporting macropinocytosis-mediated internalization, a 'fair' co-localisation of the free and liposome-conjugated RI-AG03-polyR peptide with macropinosomes and lysosomes was observed. Interestingly, we also demonstrate that RI-AG03-polyR detaches from liposomes following cellular uptake, thereby largely evading organellar entrapment. Collectively, our data indicate that direct membrane penetration and macropinocytosis are key routes for the internalization of liposomes conjugated with CPP containing RI-AG03. Our study also demonstrates that peptide-liposomes are suitable nanocarriers for the cellular delivery of RI-AG03, furthering their potential use in targeting Tau pathology in AD.
鉴于 Tau 聚集在阿尔茨海默病(AD)中的病理作用,我们的实验室之前开发了新型 Tau 聚集抑制剂肽 RI-AG03。由于 Tau 聚集体在细胞内积累,因此肽必须能够穿过细胞膜。在这里,我们研究了游离形式和脂质体缀合形式的 RI-AG03 的细胞摄取和细胞内转运。我们还描述了添加穿膜肽(CPP)序列多聚精氨酸(polyR)或转录激活因子(TAT)对 RI-AG03 的影响。我们的数据表明,CPP 修饰的 RI-AG03 肽的脂质体缀合物,无论是多聚精氨酸(polyR)还是 TAT 序列,都能使细胞内脂质体结合增加三倍。巨胞饮作用的抑制轻微降低了未缀合的和 RI-AG03-polyR 缀合的脂质体的摄取,而对 RI-AG03-TAT 缀合的脂质体摄取没有影响。进一步支持巨胞饮介导的内化,观察到游离和脂质体缀合的 RI-AG03-polyR 肽与大胞饮体和溶酶体的“公平”共定位。有趣的是,我们还证明 RI-AG03-polyR 在细胞摄取后从脂质体上脱离,从而在很大程度上避免了细胞器的捕获。总之,我们的数据表明,直接的膜穿透和巨胞饮是 CPP 修饰的 RI-AG03 脂质体内化的关键途径。我们的研究还表明,肽脂质体是细胞内递送 RI-AG03 的合适纳米载体,进一步提高了它们在靶向 AD 中 Tau 病理学中的应用潜力。