The conjugation of siRNA to molecules, which can be internalized into the cell via natural transport mechanisms, can result in the enhancement of siRNA cellular uptake. Herein, the carrier-free cellular uptake of nuclease-resistant anti-MDR1 siRNA equipped with lipophilic residues (cholesterol, lithocholic acid, oleyl alcohol and litocholic acid oleylamide) attached to the 5′-end of the sense strand via oligomethylene linker of various length was investigated. A convenient combination of H-phosphonate and phosphoramidite methods was developed for the synthesis of 5′-lipophilic conjugates of siRNAs. It was found that lipophilic siRNA are able to effectively penetrate into HEK293, HepG2 and KB-8-5 cancer cells when used in a micromolar concentration range. The efficiency of the uptake is dependent upon the type of lipophilic moiety, the length of the linker between the moiety and the siRNA and cell type. Among all the conjugates tested, the cholesterol-conjugated siRNAs with linkers containing from 6 to 10 carbon atoms demonstrate the optimal uptake and gene silencing properties: the shortening of the linker reduces the efficiency of the cellular uptake of siRNA conjugates, whereas the lengthening of the linker facilitates the uptake but retards the gene silencing effect and decreases the efficiency of the silencing.

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are considered as potent agents for specific gene silencing; however, nuclease sensitivity of siRNA limits their biomedical applications. Till date, no universal methodology has been developed to improve the nuclease resistance of siRNA, preserving low toxicity and high activity. In this study, we proposed an algorithm for the site-specific modification of siRNAs based on the mapping of their nuclease-sensitive sites in the presence of serum followed by the incorporation of 2′-O-methyl analogs of ribonucleotides at the identified positions of cleavage. We found that the protection of nuclease-sensitive sites considerably enhanced nuclease resistance of siRNA and only slightly reduced the efficiency of silencing. Modification of all nuclease-sensitive sites prolonged the duration of the silencing effect of the siRNA compared to nonmodified, partially modified, or randomly modified siRNA of the same sequence. This study showed that the targeted chemical modification of nuclease-sensitive sites could provide highly efficient siRNA-based therapeutics for the control of disease-related genes.

Chemical modifications are an effective way to improve the therapeutic properties of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), making them more resistant to degradation in serum and ensuring their delivery to target cells and tissues. Here, we studied the carrier-free biodistribution and biological activity of a nuclease-resistant anti-MDR1 cholesterol-siRNA conjugate in healthy and tumor-bearing severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) mice. The attachment of cholesterol to siRNA provided its efficient accumulation in the liver and in tumors, and reduced its retention in the kidneys after intravenous and intraperitoneal injection. The major part of cholesterol-siRNA after intramuscular and subcutaneous injections remained in the injection place. Confocal microscopy data demonstrated that cholesterol-siRNA spread deep in the tissue and was present in the cytoplasm of almost all the liver and tumor cells. The reduction of P-glycoprotein level in human KB-8-5 xenograft overexpressing the MDR1 gene by 60% was observed at days 5-6 after injection. Then, its initial level recovered by the eighth day. The data showed that, regardless of the mode of administration (intravenous, intraperitoneal, or peritumoral), cholesterol-siMDR efficiently reduced the P-glycoprotein level in tumors. The designed anti-MDR1 conjugate has potential as an adjuvant therapeutic for the reversal of multiple drug resistance of cancer cells.

Defects in mitochondrial genome can cause a wide range of clinical disorders, mainly neuromuscular diseases. Presently, no efficient therapeutic treatment has been developed against this class of pathologies. Because most of deleterious mitochondrial mutations are heteroplasmic, meaning that wild type and mutated forms of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) coexist in the same cell, the shift in proportion between mutant and wild type molecules could restore mitochondrial functions. Recently, we developed mitochondrial RNA vectors that can be used to address anti-replicative oligoribonucleotides into human mitochondria and thus impact heteroplasmy level in cells bearing a large deletion in mtDNA. Here, we show that this strategy can be also applied to point mutations in mtDNA. We demonstrate that specifically designed RNA molecules containing structural determinants for mitochondrial import and 20-nucleotide sequence corresponding to the mutated region of mtDNA, are able to anneal selectively to the mutated mitochondrial genomes. After being imported into mitochondria of living human cells in culture, these RNA induced a decrease of the proportion of mtDNA molecules bearing a pathogenic point mutation in the mtDNA ND5 gene.

Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and its type I receptor (IGF-IR) play significant roles in tumorigenesis and in immune response. Here, we wanted to know whether an RNA interference approach targeted to IGF-IR could be used for specific antitumor immunostimulation in a breast cancer model. For that, we evaluated short interfering RNA (siRNAs) for inhibition of in vivo tumor growth and immunological stimulation in immunocompetent mice. We designed 2′-O-methyl-modified siRNAs to inhibit expression of IGF-IR in two murine breast cancer cell lines (EMT6, C4HD). Cell transfection of IGF-IR siRNAs decreased proliferation, diminished phosphorylation of downstream signaling pathway proteins, AKT and ERK, and caused a G0/G1 cell cycle block. The IGF-IR silencing also induced secretion of two proinflammatory cytokines, TNF- α and IFN-γ. When we transfected C4HD cells with siRNAs targeting IGF-IR, mammary tumor growth was strongly delayed in syngenic mice. Histology of developing tumors in mice grafted with IGF-IR siRNA treated C4HD cells revealed a low mitotic index, and infiltration of lymphocytes and polymorphonuclear neutrophils, suggesting activation of an antitumor immune response. When we used C4HD cells treated with siRNA as an immunogen, we observed an increase in delayed-type hypersensitivity and the presence of cytotoxic splenocytes against wild-type C4HD cells, indicative of evolving immune response. Our findings show that silencing IGF-IR using synthetic siRNA bearing 2′-O-methyl nucleotides may offer a new clinical approach for treatment of mammary tumors expressing IGF-IR. Interestingly, our work also suggests that crosstalk between IGF-I axis and antitumor immune response can mobilize proinflammatory cytokines.