We adopted a rational approach to design cationic lipids for use in formulations to deliver small interfering RNA (siRNA). Starting with the ionizable cationic lipid 1,2-dilinoleyloxy-3-dimethylaminopropane (DLinDMA), a key lipid component of stable nucleic acid lipid particles (SNALP) as a benchmark, we used the proposed in vivo mechanism of action of ionizable cationic lipids to guide the design of DLinDMA-based lipids with superior delivery capacity. The best-performing lipid recovered after screening (DLin-KC2-DMA) was formulated and characterized in SNALP and demonstrated to have in vivo activity at siRNA doses as low as 0.01 mg/kg in rodents and 0.1 mg/kg in nonhuman primates. To our knowledge, this represents a substantial improvement over previous reports of in vivo endogenous hepatic gene silencing.

Special (lipid) delivery: The role of the ionizable lipid pKa in the in vivo delivery of siRNA by lipid nanoparticles has been studied with a large number of head group modifications to the lipids. A tight correlation between the lipid pKa value and silencing of the mouse FVII gene (FVII ED50) was found, with an optimal pKa range of 6.2–6.5 (see graph). The most potent cationic lipid from this study has ED50 levels around 0.005 mg kg−1 in mice and less than 0.03 mg kg−1 in non‐human primates.

-The tensegrity hypothesis holds that the cytoskeleton is a structure whose shape is stabilized predominantly by the tensile stresses borne by filamentous structures. Accordingly, cell stiffness must increase in proportion with the level of the tensile stress, which is called the prestress. Here we have tested that prediction in adherent human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells. Traction microscopy was used to measure the distribution of contractile stresses arising at the interface between each cell and its substrate; this distribution is called the traction field. Because the traction field must be balanced by tensile stresses within the cell body, the prestress could be computed. Cell stiffness (G) was measured by oscillatory magnetic twisting cytometry. As the contractile state of the cell was modulated with graded concentrations of relaxing or contracting agonists (isoproterenol or histamine, respectively), the mean prestress (p t) ranged from 350 to 1,900 Pa. Over that range, cell stiffness increased linearly with the prestress: G (Pa) ϭ 0.18p t ϩ 92. While this association does not necessarily preclude other interpretations, it is the hallmark of systems that secure shape stability mainly through the prestress. Regardless of mechanism, these data establish a strong association between stiffness of HASM cells and the level of tensile stress within the cytoskeleton. tensegrity; mechanical stress; traction; cytoskeleton; actin microfilaments CONTROVERSY SURROUNDS the tensegrity hypothesis (23, 28). As described below, some part of this controversy is perhaps attributable to insufficient precision in the use of associated terminology and some part to insufficient emphasis on underlying mechanisms on which tensegrity rests. The major part of the controversy, however, is surely attributable to the fact that tensegrity is a hypothesis that has been rich in opinions but poor in quantitative data. Few, if any, data have been available that could be used to put the hypothesis to a rigorous test.The purpose of this series of companion papers is to amplify findings that have appeared recently in a brief report (55) and, in doing so, to bring to this controversy precision in the concepts, clarity about putative mechanisms, and new data that bear directly on the question itself. These data offer evidence that the tensegrity hypothesis, framed as it currently stands, captures certain central features of cell mechanical behavior but may be cast too narrowly.We begin by addressing a somewhat broader question: by what central mechanism does the cytoskeleton of adherent cells develop mechanical stresses that oppose distortion of cell shape? The answer to this question is important in understanding many cellular functions, including spreading, migration, contraction, growth, and mechanotransduction (9, 13, 29). To answer this question, several models of cell mechanics have been advanced, including tensegrity (1, 11, 12, 15, 16, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 39, 40, 42, 44-46, 48, 51, 56-59, 60). This universe of cell models divid...

No abstract

In silico prediction of drug-target interactions from heterogeneous biological data can advance our system-level search for drug molecules and therapeutic targets, which efforts have not yet reached full fruition. In this work, we report a systematic approach that efficiently integrates the chemical, genomic, and pharmacological information for drug targeting and discovery on a large scale, based on two powerful methods of Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). The performance of the derived models was evaluated and verified with internally five-fold cross-validation and four external independent validations. The optimal models show impressive performance of prediction for drug-target interactions, with a concordance of 82.83%, a sensitivity of 81.33%, and a specificity of 93.62%, respectively. The consistence of the performances of the RF and SVM models demonstrates the reliability and robustness of the obtained models. In addition, the validated models were employed to systematically predict known/unknown drugs and targets involving the enzymes, ion channels, GPCRs, and nuclear receptors, which can be further mapped to functional ontologies such as target-disease associations and target-target interaction networks. This approach is expected to help fill the existing gap between chemical genomics and network pharmacology and thus accelerate the drug discovery processes.

We describe a novel synchronous detection approach to map the transmission of mechanical stresses within the cytoplasm of an adherent cell. Using fluorescent protein-labeled mitochondria or cytoskeletal components as fiducial markers, we measured displacements and computed stresses in the cytoskeleton of a living cell plated on extracellular matrix molecules that arise in response to a small, external localized oscillatory load applied to transmembrane receptors on the apical cell surface. Induced synchronous displacements, stresses, and phase lags were found to be concentrated at sites quite remote from the localized load and were modulated by the preexisting tensile stress (prestress) in the cytoskeleton. Stresses applied at the apical surface also resulted in displacements of focal adhesion sites at the cell base. Cytoskeletal anisotropy was revealed by differential phase lags in X vs. Y directions. Displacements and stresses in the cytoskeleton of a cell plated on poly-L-lysine decayed quickly and were not concentrated at remote sites. These data indicate that mechanical forces are transferred across discrete cytoskeletal elements over long distances through the cytoplasm in the living adherent cell.

Der Einfluss des pKS‐Werts von ionisierbaren Lipiden auf den siRNA‐Transport durch Lipidnanopartikel in vivo wurde anhand zahlreicher Modifikationen der Lipid‐Kopfgruppen studiert. Dabei wurde ein Zusammenhang zwischen pKS‐Wert und Stummschaltung des Maus‐FVII‐Gens (FVII ED50) gefunden: pKS‐Werte von 6.2–6.5 erwiesen sich als optimal (siehe Diagramm). Für das wirksamste kationische Lipid betrug ED50 etwa 0.005 mg kg−1 in Mäusen und <0.03 mg kg−1 in Primaten (außer Menschen).

The 12-residue tryptophan zipper beta-hairpin (SWTWENGKWTWK) and two (13)C-isotopomers were examined in the amide-I region using FTIR and femtosecond two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopies. Spectroscopic features of the labeled transitions with (13)C-substituted amide unit present in the terminal or turn region of the hairpin, including their frequency shifts and distributions, line broadenings, orientations, and anharmonicities of diagonal peaks, allow the peptide local structure and local environment to be examined. The results suggest a larger structure fluctuation in the terminal region than in the turn region as a result of the side chain effect and solvent-peptide interaction. The results also suggest that the uncoupled amide-I modes are not degenerate and that this is likely to be a common situation for solvated polypeptides. In addition, the amide-I states in the terminal and turn regions were found to be delocalized over several neighboring amide units. Cross-peaks between the various labeled and unlabeled structural regions were clearly observed in the 2D IR correlation spectra, allowing them to be characterized for monitoring structural changes. These results illustrate the sensitivity of 2D IR to the local environment of solvated peptides. The simulated 1D and 2D IR spectra of the hairpin, obtained by using the vibrational exciton model incorporating coupling constants from quantum chemical computations and semiempirical calculations, were found to reproduce the essential features of the experimental results.