Cell Type-Specific Delivery of RNAi by Ligand-Functionalized Curdlan Nanoparticles: Balancing the Receptor Mediation and the Charge Motivation

Abstract

Tissue-specific delivery of therapeutic RNAi has great potential for clinical applications. Receptor-mediated endocytosis plays a crucial role in targeted delivery of biotherapeutics including short interfering RNA (siRNA). Previously we reported a novel Curdlan-based nanoparticle for intracellular delivery of siRNA. Here we designed a nanoparticle based on ligand-functionalized Curdlan. Disaccharides were site-specifically conjugated to 6-deoxy-6-amino Curdlan, and the cell line specificity, cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, and siRNA delivery efficiency of the corresponding disaccharide-modified 6-deoxy-6-amino-Curdlan were investigated. Observation by fluorescence microscopy as well as flow cytometry showed that galactose-containing Curdlan derivatives delivered fluorescently labeled short nucleic acid to HepG2 cells expressing ASGPR receptor but not in other cells lacking surface ASGPR protein. Moreover, highly galactose-substituted Curdlan derivatives delivered siRNA specifically to ASGPR-expressing cells and induced RNAi activities, silencing endogenous GAPDH gene expression. Our data demonstrated that galactose-functionalized 6-deoxy-6-amino-Curdlan is a promising carrier for short therapeutic nucleic acids for clinical applications.