Fiche publication
Date publication
mai 2020
Journal
The journal of physical chemistry. B
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr BECHINGER Burkhard
,
Dr KICHLER Antoine
Tous les auteurs :
Aisenbrey C, Douat C, Kichler A, Guichard G, Bechinger B
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
The biophysical properties of a designed bioreducible oligourea foldamer, which shows excellent transfection activities in its dimeric form (Angewandte Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 11133) are presented. Binding isotherms of the monomer as well as of the dimer to both DNA and lipid membranes were determined by indole fluorescence. Comparing the monomer with the dimer allows both a precise biophysical characterization of the role of dimerization and how the covalent linkage between two monomers affects the transfection activity. The results indicate that dimerization results in pronounced changes in the thermodynamics of different steps of the transfection process, which extend well beyond simple steric effects within the dimer. A model emerges where the imidazole-containing polymers compact DNA at neutral pH, but liberate the polyurea from the DNA complex at low pH thus being able to rupture acidified endosomes. Indeed, the dimerization inverts the pH dependence of the binding affinities towards the requirements suggested by this model for efficient transfection.
Référence
J Phys Chem B. 2020 May 11;:
