(1) Background: The great potential of RNA interference (RNAi)-based gene therapy is premised on the effective delivery of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to target tissues and cells. Hence, we aimed at developing and examining a novel integrin αvβ₃-specific delivery carrier for targeted transfection of siRNA to malignant tumor cells; (2) Methods: Arginine-glycine-aspartate motif (RGD) was adopted as a tissue target for specific recognition of integrin αvβ₃. To enable siRNA binding, a chimeric peptide was synthesized by adding nonamer arginine residues (9R) at the carboxy terminus of cyclic-RGD dimer, designated as c(RGD)₂-9R. The efficiency of 9R peptide transferring siRNA was biologically evaluated in vitro by flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, and Western blot; (3) Results: An optimal 10:1 molar ratio of c(RGD)₂-9R to siRNA was confirmed by the electrophoresis on agarose gels. Both the flow cytometry and confocal microscopy results testified that transfection of c(RGD)₂-9R as an siRNA delivery carrier was obviously higher than the naked-siRNA group. The results of Western blot demonstrated that these 9R peptides were able to transduce siRNA to HepG2 cells in vitro, resulting in efficient gene silencing; and (4) Conclusion: The chimeric peptide of c(RGD)₂-9R can be developed as an effective siRNA delivery carrier and shows potential as a new strategy for RNAi-based gene therapy.
Keywords: RNA interference (RNAi); arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD); integrin αvβ3; small interfering RNA (siRNA).