Toxicological exploration of peptide-based cationic liposomes in siRNA delivery

The toxicology of cationic liposomes was explored to advance clinical trials of liposome-mediated gene therapy through the analysis of a peptide cationic liposome with DOTAP as a positive control. We first investigated the delivery of luciferase siRNA by several peptide liposomes in mice bearing lung cancer A549 cell xenografts. Of these, a cationic liposome (CDO14) was selected for further investigation. CDO14 efficiently mediated IGF-1R-siRNA delivery and inhibited the growth of the A549 cell xenografts. The in vivo toxicity and toxicological mechanisms of the selected liposome were evaluated to assess its potential utility for gene delivery. Specifically, the effects of CDO14 on mouse body weight, hematology, urine, serum biochemical indices, and histopathology were measured in acute toxicity and subchronic toxicity tests. CDO14 showed limited toxicological effects at low dosages although it induced pulmonary inflammation and liver injury at higher dosages. The toxicity of CDO14 was lower than that of DOTAP, and the toxicity of CDO14 did not change when complexed with siRNA. The pulmonary inflammation induced by CDO14 occurred via expressional up-regulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6, and expressional down-regulation of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Liver injury induced by CDO14 was mediated by the JAK2-STAT3 signaling pathway. Lastly, CDO14 did not affect the expression of apoptosis-related proteins in normal liver cells, suggesting that it did not induce apoptosis of normal cells. The toxicological results demonstrate that peptide-based headgroups in lipids are superior to those with quaternary ammonium headgroups that are used as gene vectors for cancer therapy.