A targeted ultrasound contrast agent carrying gene and cell-penetrating peptide: Preparation and gene transfection in vitro

• We prepared a novel targeted UCA carrying gene and CPP, a ‘smart’ gene delivery system with extracellular accumulation and intracellular penetration.
• We investigated its targeting affinity and gene transfection in vitro.
• The targeted UCA carrying gene and CPP offers a new method for gene therapy of ischemic heart disease.

Targeted and high efficient gene delivery is a main issue in gene treatment. Taking advantage of ischemic memory target P-selectin and our previous study-synergistic effects of ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) and TAT peptide on gene transfection, which were characterized by targeted aggregation and high efficient gene transfection, we set up a ‘smart’ gene delivery system-targeted ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) carrying gene and cell-permeable peptides (CPP). Such UCA had a strong binding force with DNA which was protected from being hydrolysed by nuclease. Moreover, synergistic effects of UTMD and TAT peptide increased gene transfection. Specifically, the UCA were reacted with an ischemic memory target P-selectin overexpressed by ischemic issues (including ischemic heart disease) and loaded with gene and CPP, which enabled targeted localization and gene delivery to ischemic cells overexpressing P-selectin. We demonstrated their targeting affinity for hypoxia human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) and gene transfection in vitro. The results of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) showed that gene and CPP were distributed on the shell of UCA. Red fluorescence was observed on the surface of targeted UCA using immunofluorescent microscopy, which demonstrated that the antibody was successfully connected to the UCA. The targeted UCA was specifically and tightly binded to hypoxia HUVEC, while there were no or little non-targeted UCA binding around hypoxia HUVEC. 24 h after transfection, gene transfection efficiency detected by FCM was higher in targeted group than non-targeted group. Overall, the targeted UCA carrying gene and CPP was prepared successfully. It had a strong target binding capacity to hypoxia HUVEC and high efficient gene transfection, which maybe provide a novel strategy for gene therapy.

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