Adriana Avila Flores
Auburn University, USA
Title: Branched amphiphilic cationic oligo-peptides for delivery of HPV-16 DNA vaccines
Biography
Biography: Adriana Avila Flores
Abstract
Recently, peptides have shown potential as a new family for gene carriers. Peptides are easy to synthesize, quite stable and expected to produce minimally immunogenic and inflammatory responses. We recently reported on a new class of branched amphiphilic peptides that self-assemble into extremely stable nano-spheres. The Branched Amphiphilic Peptides Capsules (BAPCs) display a uniform size of 20-30 nm and are resistant to detergents, proteases and chaotropes. Comparable to how histones compact DNA to form nucleosomes, the 20- 30 nm BAPCs interact with plasmid DNA acting as a cationic nucleation centers with the negatively charged DNA coating the outer surface, generating peptide-DNA nanoparticles with sizes ranging between 50-250 nm. The BAPCs-DNA nanoparticles are capable of delivering plasmid DNA of different size into cells in culture, yielding high transfection rates and minimal cytotoxicity. Furthermore, BAPCs were tested for in vivo delivery of a DNA vaccine previously designed to activate immune responses and capable of controlling tumors induced by type 16 human papilloma virus (HPV-16). The BAPCs-DNA nanoparticles enhanced the vaccine-induced antitumor protection and promoted efficient activation of murine dendritic cells without significant toxic effects. Together these results demonstrate that the interaction of double stranded DNA to branched amphiphilic oligo-peptides nanoparticles represents a promising new in vitro and in vivo non-viral gene delivery system.