Calcium-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticles as a lysosomolytic nanocarrier for amine-free loading and cytosolic delivery of siRNA

Eunshil Choi, Dong Kwon Lim, Sehoon Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

For efficacious gene therapeutics, cytosolic transport of the endocytosed siRNA is crucial, not to mention a non-toxic delivery carrier composition. In this paper, we report facile achievement of amine-free loading and lysosomolytic delivery of siRNA in an unconventional way by using calcium (Ca2+)-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticles (CMSNs) as a host material along with a pore-loaded endosomal disruptor, chloroquine (CQ). It is demonstrated that CMSNs are capable of direct siRNA loading through Ca2+-incorporated larger pores, as well as efficient release of the loaded siRNA under pH control thanks to the high degradability of the Ca2+-doped silica backbone. A therapeutic performance of siRNA-loaded CMSNs is exemplified in vitro with SKOV3 human ovarian cancer cells, which underwent distinct knockdown of a target anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 gene and consequent apoptosis after incubation with those particles. When co-loaded with CQ, particles were shown to substantially promote the cytosolic delivery of the endocytosed siRNA via endo/lysosomal escape for more effective induction of cell apoptosis. The results suggest that a variety of target-genes can be applicable to the presented delivery system on demand, providing a highly versatile feature of our nanocarrier for many gene-therapeutic applications with higher efficacy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)71-80
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
Volume81
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020 Jan 25

Keywords

  • Calcium
  • Endosomal escape
  • Gene silencing
  • Mesoporous silica
  • siRNA

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Chemical Engineering(all)

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