title: Gold nanoparticles capped with polyethyleneimine for enhanced siRNA delivery.
abstract: An efficient and safe delivery system for small interfering RNA (siRNA) is required for clinical application of RNA interfering therapeutics. Polyethyleneimine (PEI)-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are successfully manufactured using PEI as the reductant and stabilizer, which bind siRNA at an appropriate weight ratio by electrostatic interaction and result in well-dispersed nanoparticles with uniform structure and narrow size distribution. With siRNA binding, PEI-capped AuNPs induce more significant and enhanced reduction in targeted green fluorescent protein expression in MDA-MB-435s cells, though more internalized PEI/siRNA complexes in cells are evidenced by confocal laser scanning microscopy observation and fluorescence-activated cell sorting analyses. PEI-capped AuNPs/siRNA targeting endogenous cell-cycle kinase, an oncogene polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1), display significant gene expression knockdown and induce enhanced cell apoptosis, whereas it is not obvious when the cells are treated with PLK1 siRNA using PEI as the carrier. Without exhibiting cellular toxicity, PEI-capped AuNPs appear to be suitable as a potential carrier for intracellular siRNA delivery.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wen-Jing
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jin-Zhi
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Tian-Meng
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Pei-Zhuo
authors.initials: PZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D015153:Blotting, Western; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D020868:Gene Silencing / Q000187:drug effects; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D011094:Polyethyleneimine / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism*; D000097869:Polo-Like Kinase 1
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D006046:Gold; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D011094:Polyethyleneimine; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D000097869:Polo-Like Kinase 1