Functional nanosome for enhanced mitochondria-targeted gene delivery and expression

Mitochondria dysfunction plays a role in many human diseases. Therapeutic techniques for these disorders require novel delivery systems that can specifically target and penetrate mitochondria. In this study, we report a novel nanosome composed of dequalinium-DOTAP-DOPE (1,2 dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane-1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine) (DQA80s) as a potential mitochondria-targeting delivery vector. The functional DQAsome, DQA80s, showed enhanced transfection efficiency compared to a vector DQAsomes in HeLa cells and dermal fibroblasts. In addition, DQA80s/pDNA complexes exhibited rapid escape from the endosome into the cytosol. We observed the delivery of pDNA to mitochondria in living cells using flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, and TME imaging. More specifically, we confirmed our results by co-localization of hmtZsGreen constructs to mitochondria when delivered via DQAsomes and DQA80s in living cells. The mitochondria-targeting DQAsomes and DQA80s induced mitochondrial dysfunction through depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential. Our data demonstrate that DQA80s show promise for use as a mitochondria-targeted carrier system for treatment of mitochondria diseases in vivo.