Avila Yelixza I, Rebolledo Laura P, Leal Santos Nathalia, Rawlins Brandon, Radwan Yasmine, Andrade-Muñoz Melanie, Skelly Elizabeth, Chandler Morgan R, Andrade Luciana N S, Kim Tae Jin, Dobrovolskaia Marina A, Afonin Kirill A
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina 28223, United States.
Center for Translational Research in Oncology (LIM24), Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Comprehensive Center for Precision Oncology, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 01246-000, Brazil.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2025 Jun 9;11(6):3726-3737. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.5c00336. Epub 2025 May 20.
Nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs) are promising immune modulators due to their well-established structural properties and distinct structure-activity relationship with the immune system. We previously identified that NANPs' size, shape, composition, and type of delivery vehicle define their uptake by immune cells and subsequently induced cytokine profile. In this work, we examined the delivery efficiencies and immunological impacts of two representative NANPs─DNA cubes and RNA cubes─complexed with a benchmark delivery vehicle, Lipofectamine 2000 vs. different generations of amine-terminated poly(amidoamine) dendrimers. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we modeled dendrimer interactions with nucleic acid cargos. Next, we used traditional 2D and more recently established 3D cell cultures to assess dendrimers' influence on NANPs uptake. Immune activation was evaluated in several cell lines engineered with reporter genes driven by key immune signaling pathways. Specifically, HEK-lucia reporter cells were used to evaluate RIG-I activation, while THP1-Dual cells provided quantitative readouts for both IRF and NF-κB transcription factor activity. Our findings demonstrate that both dendrimer generation and NANP composition influence cellular uptake and immune responses. This study underscores the importance of formulation in shaping NANPs' biological properties and further advances the understanding of their immunological properties critical for the development of NANPs-based adjuvants.
核酸纳米颗粒(NANPs)因其已确立的结构特性以及与免疫系统独特的构效关系,而成为很有前景的免疫调节剂。我们之前已确定,NANPs的大小、形状、组成和递送载体类型决定了免疫细胞对它们的摄取,进而影响所诱导的细胞因子谱。在这项研究中,我们检测了两种代表性的NANPs(DNA立方体和RNA立方体)与一种基准递送载体(Lipofectamine 2000)以及不同代数的胺基端聚(酰胺胺)树枝状大分子复合后的递送效率和免疫学影响。我们使用分子动力学模拟对树枝状大分子与核酸货物的相互作用进行了建模。接下来,我们使用传统的二维和最近建立的三维细胞培养来评估树枝状大分子对NANPs摄取的影响。在几种由关键免疫信号通路驱动的报告基因工程改造的细胞系中评估免疫激活情况。具体而言,使用HEK-lucia报告细胞评估RIG-I激活,而THP1-Dual细胞则为IRF和NF-κB转录因子活性提供定量读数。我们的研究结果表明,树枝状大分子的代数和NANP的组成都会影响细胞摄取和免疫反应。这项研究强调了制剂在塑造NANPs生物学特性方面所起的重要作用,并进一步加深了我们对其免疫特性的理解,这对于基于NANPs的佐剂开发至关重要。
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