Cationic derivatives of biocompatible hyaluronic acids for delivery of siRNA and antisense oligonucleotides

In this study, we tested the use of cationic polymer derivatives of biocompatible hyaluronic acid (HA) as a delivery system of siRNA and antisense oligonucleotides. HA was modified with cationic polymer polyethylenimine (PEI). When compared with PEI alone, cationic PEI derivatives of HA (HA-PEI) provided increased cellular delivery of Small interfering RNA (siRNA) in B16F1, A549, HeLa, and Hep3B tumor cells. Indeed, more than 95% of the cells were positive for siRNA following its delivery with HA-PEI. A survivin-specific siRNA that was delivered using HA-PEI potently reduced the mRNA expression levels of the target gene in all of the cell lines. By contrast, survivin-specific siRNA delivered by PEI alone did not induce a significant reduction in mRNA levels. In green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing 293 T cells, a loss of GFP expression was evident in the cells that had been treated with GFP-specific siRNA and HA-PEI complex. The inhibition of target gene expression by antisense oligonucleotide 63139 was also enhanced after delivery with HA-PEI. Moreover, HA-PEI displayed lower cytotoxicity than PEI alone. These results suggest that HA-PEI could be further developed as biocompatible delivery systems of siRNA and antisense oligonucleotides for enhanced cellular uptake and inhibition of target gene expression.This study was financially supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology (F104AA010003-08A0101-00310), and from the Basic Research Program of Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF R01-2007-000-20475-0)