Activatable Cell Penetrating Peptide-Peptide Nucleic Acid Conjugate via Reduction of Azobenzene PEG Chains

作者：Lee Soo Hyeon; Moroz Elena; Castagner Bastien^*; Leroux Jean Christophe

来源：Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014, 136(37): 12868-12871.

DOI：10.1021/ja507547w

The use of stimuli-responsive bioactive molecules is an attractive strategy to circumvent selectivity issues in vivo. Here, we report an activatable cell penetrating peptide (CPP) strategy ultimately aimed at delivering nucleic acid drugs to the colon mucosa using bacterial azoreductase as the local reconversion trigger. Through screening of a panel of CPPs, we identified a sequence (M918) capable of carrying a nucleic acid analogue payload. A modified M918 peptide conjugated to a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) was shown to silence luciferase in colon adenocarcinoma cells (HT-29-luc). Reversible functionalization of the conjugate's lysine residues via an azobenzene self-immolative linkage abolished transfection activity, and the free CPP-PNA was recovered after reduction of the azobenzene bond. This activatable CPP conjugate platform could find applications in the selective delivery of nucleic acid drugs to the colon mucosa, opening therapeutic avenues in colon diseases.

• 出版日期2014-9-17