Novel aromatic moieties-modified poly(glycidyl amine)s with potent siRNA delivery and cancer treatment effect†

The development of safe and effective delivery systems is critical for the clinical applications of siRNA-based therapeutics. Polymer-based vectors have garnered significant attention owing to their structural flexibility and functional tunability. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) has been extensively studied for nucleic acid delivery; nevertheless, its high cytotoxicity has posed challenges for clinical applications. In this study, we have reported poly(glycidyl amine) (PGAm), a linear PEI analogue, demonstrating remarkable siRNA delivery efficacy and improved biocompatibility. By introducing three aromatic moieties (tyrosine, p-hydroxybenzenepropanoic acid, and phenylalanine) at varying ratios to further modify PGAms, we successfully constructed a library comprising 36 PGAm-based carriers. In vitro evaluations revealed that PGAm-based carriers exhibited significantly enhanced biocompatibility and reduced non-specific protein absorption in comparison to PEI25k. Among them, 10 modified PGAms achieved a knockdown of target gene expressions exceeding 80%, and 26 modified PGAms maintained over 70% cell viability when utilized for the in vitro delivery of siRNA to HeLa cells. Explorations into the structure–activity relationship of PGAm-based polyplex nanoparticles (NPs) indicated that the siRNA delivery efficacy of NPs depended on factors such as the molecular weight of PGAm precursors, the type of modifying moieties, and the modification ratio. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that two top-performing NPs, namely 2T100/siLuc and 2A50/siLuc, exhibited potent silencing of target genes in tumors following i.v. injection into mice bearing HeLa-Luc xenografts. The in vivo efficacy of the selected NPs was further validated by a remarkable anti-cancer effect when employed for the delivery of siRNA targeting polo-like kinase 1 (siPLK1) to mice with PC-3 xenograft tumors. The intravenous administration of NPs resulted in a substantial inhibition of tumor growth without significant toxicity. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of employing PGAm in siRNA delivery and provide valuable insights for the development of efficient siRNA carriers based on PGAm.