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Updated: May 19, 2026

Isolation of Cognate RNA-protein Complexes from Cells Using Oligonucleotide-directed Elution
Published on: January 16, 2017
Lipoplexes carrying mRNA encoding Gag protein modulate dendritic cells to stimulate HIV-specific immune responses
Winni De Haes1, Joanna Rejman, Charlotte Pollard
1Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp, Nationalestraat 155, Antwerp 2000, Belgium. wdehaes@itg.be
Aim:
Cationic lipids (Lipofectamine™ [Invitrogen, Merelbeke, Belgium] and 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane/1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine) and polymers (jetPEI™ and in vivo-jetPEI™ [Polyplus-transfection, Illkirch, France]) were evaluated for their potential to deliver mRNA to monocyte-derived dendritic cells.
Materials & Methods:
Lipoplexes and polyplexes, containing mRNA encoding GFP or Gag protein, were incubated with human monocyte-derived dendritic cells and transfection efficiencies were assessed by flow cytometry.
Results:
Lipofectamine was by far the most efficient in mRNA delivery, therefore it was used in further experiments. Incubation of monocyte-derived dendritic cells isolated from HIV-1-positive donors with mRNA encoding Gag protein complexed to Lipofectamine resulted in 50% transfection. Importantly, coculture of these Gag-transfected dendritic cells with autologous T cells induced an over tenfold expansion of IFN-γ- and IL-2-secreting CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells.
Conclusion:
Cationic lipid-mediated mRNA delivery may be a useful tool for therapeutic vaccination against HIV-1. This approach can be applied to develop vaccination strategies for other infectious diseases and cancer.
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