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Phosphatidylcholine head group chemistry alters the extrahepatic accumulation of lipid-conjugated siRNA

Hariharan, Vignesh N
Nakamura, Takahiro
Shin, Minwook
Tang, Qi
Sontakke, Vyankat
Caiazzi, Jillian
Hildebrand, Samuel
Khvorova, Anastasia
Yamada, Ken
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Abstract

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are revolutionizing the treatment of liver-associated indications. Yet, robust delivery to extrahepatic tissues remains a challenge. Conjugating lipids (e.g., docosanoic acid [DCA]) to siRNA supports extrahepatic delivery, but tissue accumulation remains lower than that achieved in liver by approved siRNA therapeutics. Early evidence suggests that functionalizing DCA with a head group (e.g., phosphatidylcholine [PC]) may enhance delivery to certain tissues. Here, we report the first systematic evaluation of the effect of PC head group chemistry on the extrahepatic distribution of DCA-conjugated siRNAs. We show that functionalizing DCA with a PC head group enhances siRNA accumulation in heart, muscle, lung, pancreas, duodenum, urinary bladder, and fat. Varying the size of the linker between the phosphate and choline moiety of the PC head group altered the extrahepatic accumulation of siRNA, with the optimal linker length being different for different tissues. Increasing PC head group valency also improved extrahepatic accumulation in a tissue-specific manner. This study demonstrates the structural impact of the PC moiety on the biodistribution of lipid-conjugated siRNA and introduces multiple novel PC variants for the chemical optimization of DCA-conjugated siRNA. These chemical variants can be used in the context of other lipids to increase the repertoire of conjugates for the extrahepatic distribution of siRNAs.

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Hariharan VN, Nakamura T, Shin M, Tang Q, Sontakke V, Caiazzi J, Hildebrand S, Khvorova A, Yamada K. Phosphatidylcholine head group chemistry alters the extrahepatic accumulation of lipid-conjugated siRNA. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids. 2024 May 24;35(2):102230. doi: 10.1016/j.omtn.2024.102230. PMID: 38938759; PMCID: PMC11209015.

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DOI
10.1016/j.omtn.2024.102230
PubMed ID
38938759
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This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).