PLGA-Rhodamine used in research on SiRNA delivery as part of cystic fibrosis treatment development

Cystic Fibrosis is a severe and fatal lung disease which can potentially be treated by delivery of SiRNA to modify the way in which the lung fluids behave. Recently, researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Germany) University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, University of Milano, University of Napoli Frederico II, and Children’s Hospital Bambino Gesu (Italy) used PLGA-Rhodamine (AV011) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to fluorescently label and track nanoparticles for an inhaled therapy application. This research holds promise to improve treatment against a wide variety of lung diseases. Read more: Conte, Gemma, Gabriella Costabile, Domizia Baldassi, Valeria Rondelli, Rosaria Bassi, Diego Colombo, Giulia Linardos et al. "Hybrid Lipid/Polymer Nanoparticles to Tackle the Cystic Fibrosis Mucus Barrier in siRNA Delivery to the Lungs: Does PEGylation Make the Difference?." ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2022). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsami.1c14975

“Inhaled siRNA therapy has a unique potential for treatment of severe lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis (CF). Nevertheless, a drug delivery system tackling lung barriers is mandatory to enhance gene silencing efficacy in the airway epithelium. We recently demonstrated that lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles (hNPs), comprising a poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) core and a lipid shell of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC), may assist the transport of the nucleic acid cargo through mucus-covered human airway epithelium. To study in depth the potential of hNPs for siRNA delivery to the lungs and to investigate the hypothesized benefit of PEGylation, here, an siRNA pool against the nuclear factor-κB (siNFκB) was encapsulated inside hNPs, endowed with a non-PEGylated (DPPC) or a PEGylated (1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-poly(ethylene glycol) or DSPE-PEG) lipid shell. Resulting hNPs were tested for their stability profiles and transport properties in artificial CF mucus, mucus collected from CF cells, and sputum samples from a heterogeneous and representative set of CF patients. Initial information on hNP properties governing their interaction with airway mucus was acquired by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies in artificial and cellular CF mucus. The diffusion profiles of hNPs through CF sputa suggested a crucial role of lung colonization of the corresponding donor patient, affecting the mucin type and content of the sample. Noteworthy, PEGylation did not boost mucus penetration in complex and sticky samples, such as CF sputa from patients with polymicrobial colonization. In parallel, in vitro cell uptake studies performed on mucus-lined Calu-3 cells grown at the air–liquid interface (ALI) confirmed the improved ability of non-PEGylated hNPs to overcome mucus and cellular lung barriers. Furthermore, effective in vitro NFκB gene silencing was achieved in LPS-stimulated 16HBE14o- cells. Overall, the results highlight the potential of non-PEGylated hNPs as carriers for pulmonary delivery of siRNA for local treatment of CF lung disease. Furthermore, this study provides a detailed understanding of how distinct models may provide different information on nanoparticle interaction with the mucus barrier. KEYWORDS: lung mucus hybrid nanoparticles siRNA delivery cystic fibrosis SAXS”