Mono-methoxy-poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate)-graft-hyper-branched polyethylenimine copolymers for siRNA delivery

A class of non-viral siRNA vectors consisting of biodegradable poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHA) grafted onto branched poly(ethyleneimine) (bPEI, 25 kDa) was synthesized and evaluated for siRNA delivery. The mPHA-g-bPEI copolymers were synthesized through Michael addition between acrylated mono-methoxy-poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (mPHA-acrylated) and bPEI with various block length poly(hydroxyalkanoates) from 1300 to 2900 Da. Our research showed that mPHA-g-bPEI copolymers could effectively bind siRNA, protect it from degradation by nucleases and efficiently release the complexed siRNA in the presence of low concentrations of polyanionic heparin. The particle size of mPHA-g-bPEI/siRNA complexes was <200 nm with ζ-potential between 33 and 43 mV. mPHA-g-bPEI copolymers displayed low cytotoxicity compared to unmodified bPEI and efficient cellular uptake of Cy3-siRNA in A549 cells by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. siRNA delivery efficiency of the copolymers was assessed by siRNA against luciferase in cultured A549-Luc and MCF-7-Luc cells. Those mPHA-g-bPEI copolymers revealed a higher transfection efficiency and lower cytotoxicity than bPEI in two cell lines. Furthermore, a remarkable knockdown of luciferase expression of mPHA-g-bPEI (mAP2) complex (up to 85%) in vitro was found to be equivalent to that of commercially available transfection agent Lipofectamine™ 2000.