siRNA Delivery to the Glomerular Mesangium Using Polycationic Cyclodextrin Nanoparticles Containing siRNA

There is an urgent need for new therapies that can halt or reverse the course of chronic kidney disease with minimal side-effect burden on the patient. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) nanoparticles are new therapeutic entities in clinical development that could be useful for chronic kidney disease treatment because they combine the tissue-specific targeting properties of nanoparticles with the gene-specific silencing effects of siRNA. Recent reports have emerged demonstrating that the kidney, specifically the glomerulus, is a readily accessible site for nanoparticle targeting. Here, we explore the hypothesis that intravenously administered polycationic cyclodextrin nanoparticles containing siRNA (siRNA/CDP-NPs) can be used for delivery of siRNA to the glomerular mesangium. We demonstrate that siRNA/CDP-NPs localize to the glomerular mesangium with limited deposition in other areas of the kidney after intravenous injection. Additionally, we report that both mouse and human mesangial cells rapidly internalize siRNA/CDP-NPs in vitro and that nanoparticle uptake can be enhanced by attaching the targeting ligands mannose or transferrin to the nanoparticle surface. Lastly, we show knockdown of mesangial enhanced green fluorescent protein expression in a reporter mouse strain following iv treatment with siRNA/CDP-NPs. Altogether, these data demonstrate the feasibility of mesangial targeting using intravenously administered siRNA/CDP-NPs.