title: A cell-penetrating foldamer with a bioreducible linkage for intracellular delivery of DNA.
abstract: Despite significant advances in foldamer chemistry, tailored delivery systems based on foldamer architectures, which provide a high level of control over secondary structure, are curiously rare among non-viral technologies for transporting nucleic acids into cells. A potent pH-responsive, bioreducible cell-penetrating foldamer (CPF) was developed through covalent dimerization of a short (8-mer) amphipathic oligourea sequence bearing histidine-type units. This CPF exhibits a high capacity to assemble with pDNA and mediates efficient delivery of nucleic acids into the cell. Furthermore, it does not adversely affect cellular viability and was shown to compare favorably with a cognate peptide transfection agent based on His-rich sequences.
authors.affiliation: Univ. Bordeaux, CBMN, UMR 5248, Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), 2 rue Robert Escarpit, 33607 Pessac (France).|CNRS, CBMN, UMR 5248, 33600 Pessac (France).
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Douat
authors.affiliation: Membrane Biophysics and NMR, Chemistry Institute, University of Strasbourg-CNRS UMR7177, 4, Rue Blaise Pascal, 67008 Strasbourg (France).
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aisenbrey
authors.affiliation: Univ. Bordeaux, CBMN, UMR 5248, Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), 2 rue Robert Escarpit, 33607 Pessac (France).|CNRS, CBMN, UMR 5248, 33600 Pessac (France).
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Antunes
authors.affiliation: CNRS, CBMN, UMR 5248, 33600 Pessac (France).|Univ. Bordeaux, CBMN, UMR 5248, All. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33600 Pessac (France).
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Decossas
authors.affiliation: CNRS, CBMN, UMR 5248, 33600 Pessac (France).|Univ. Bordeaux, CBMN, UMR 5248, All. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33600 Pessac (France).
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.affiliation: Membrane Biophysics and NMR, Chemistry Institute, University of Strasbourg-CNRS UMR7177, 4, Rue Blaise Pascal, 67008 Strasbourg (France).
authors.forename: Burkhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bechinger
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire "Vecteurs: Synthèse et Applications Thérapeutiques", UMR 7199 CNRS-Université de Strasbourg, Labex Medalis, Faculté de Pharmacie, 74 route du Rhin, 67401 Illkirch cedex (France). kichler@unistra.fr.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kichler
authors.affiliation: Univ. Bordeaux, CBMN, UMR 5248, Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), 2 rue Robert Escarpit, 33607 Pessac (France). g.guichard@iecb.u-bordeaux.fr.|CNRS, CBMN, UMR 5248, 33600 Pessac (France). g.guichard@iecb.u-bordeaux.fr.
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guichard
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D002460:Cell Line; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D004247:DNA / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D004247:DNA
keywords: cell-penetrating peptides; disulfide-mediated dimerization; foldamers; gene delivery; transfection