Endosomal escape of polymeric gene delivery complexes is not always enhanced by polymers buffering at low pH

One of the crucial steps in gene delivery with cationic polymers is the escape of the polymer/DNA complexes ("polyplexes") from the endosome. A possible way to enhance endosomal escape is the use of cationic polymers with a pKa around or slightly below physiological pH ("proton sponge"). We synthesized a new polymer with two tertiary amine groups in each monomeric unit [poly(2-methyl-acrylic acid 2-[(2-(dimethylamino)-ethyl)-methyl-amino]-ethyl ester), abbreviated as pDAMA]. One pKa of the monomer is approximately 9, providing cationic charge at physiological pH, and thus DNA binding properties, the other is approximately 5 and provides endosomal buffering capacity. Using dynamic light scattering and zeta potential measurements, it was shown that pDAMA is able to condense DNA in small particles with a surface charge depending on the polymer/DNA ratio. pDAMA has a substantial lower toxicity than other polymeric transfectants, but in vitro, the transfection activity of the pDAMA-based polyplexes was very low. The addition of a membrane disruptive peptide to pDAMA-based polyplexes considerably increased the transfection efficiency without adversely affecting the cytotoxicity of the system. This indicates that the pDAMA-based polyplexes alone are not able to mediate escape from the endosomes via the proton sponge mechanism. Our observations imply that the proton sponge hypothesis is not generally applicable for polymers with buffering capacity at low pH and gives rise to a reconsideration of this hypothesis.