Sun Peng, Wang Shiping, Yan Qi, Zeng Jia, Wu Zhenghong, Qi Xiaole
Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, PR China.
Industrial Technology Innovation Platform, Zhejiang Center for Safety Study of Drug Substances, Hangzhou 310018, China.
Nanoscale. 2025 Mar 13;17(11):6660-6675. doi: 10.1039/d4nr04762a.
Direct delivery of the Cas9/sgRNA ribonucleoprotein (RNP) appropriate carriers has been proved to be an important advance for the translocation and gene editing of CRISPR/Cas9. These carriers often require the nuclear localization signal (NLS) to fuse with Cas9 or the NLS-bearing protein to form a complex with Cas9 to enter the nucleus. In this study, we introduced apoferritin nanocages as carriers and DOX as a nuclear trigger for the nuclear transport of the Cas9/sgRNA ribonucleoprotein without the NLS (RNP). Our experiments showed that loading RNP and DOX into 4L-FTH subunit-based apoferritin nanocages leads to efficient endocytosis and lysosomal escape. Specifically, when DOX was administered at a concentration of 1 μM, we observed the activation of cellular defense mechanisms, which effectively facilitated the translocation of 4L-HFn@RNP/DOX nanoparticles into the nucleus, thereby enabling intranuclear RNP delivery. This strategy has been empirically demonstrated to achieve gene editing efficiencies of approximately 33% for the Lcn2 gene in MDA-MB-231 cells and 17.9% for the copepod green fluorescent protein (copGFP) gene in HeLa.copGFP cells . Moreover, editing efficacy, as tested in a HeLa.copGFP nude mouse model, was confirmed to be 16%. This delivery system presents a novel therapeutic approach for the nuclear delivery of small molecules or nucleic acid drugs, potentially overcoming the challenges associated with nuclear entry barriers.
直接递送合适的Cas9/sgRNA核糖核蛋白(RNP)载体已被证明是CRISPR/Cas9转位和基因编辑的一项重要进展。这些载体通常需要核定位信号(NLS)与Cas9融合,或者与带有NLS的蛋白质形成与Cas9的复合物才能进入细胞核。在本研究中,我们引入了脱铁铁蛋白纳米笼作为载体,并将阿霉素(DOX)作为核转运触发剂,用于无NLS的Cas9/sgRNA核糖核蛋白(RNP)的核转运。我们的实验表明,将RNP和DOX装载到基于4L-FTH亚基的脱铁铁蛋白纳米笼中可实现高效的内吞作用和溶酶体逃逸。具体而言,当以1 μM的浓度施用DOX时,我们观察到细胞防御机制的激活,这有效地促进了4L-HFn@RNP/DOX纳米颗粒向细胞核的转位,从而实现细胞核内RNP递送。经验证,该策略在MDA-MB-231细胞中对Lcn2基因实现了约33%的基因编辑效率,在HeLa.copGFP细胞中对桡足类绿色荧光蛋白(copGFP)基因实现了17.9%的编辑效率。此外,在HeLa.copGFP裸鼠模型中测试的编辑效率被证实为16%。该递送系统为小分子或核酸药物的细胞核递送提供了一种新的治疗方法,可能克服与核进入障碍相关的挑战。