Engineered glycated amino dendritic polymers as specific nonviral gene delivery vectors targeting the receptor for advanced glycation end products.

The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is involved in diabetes or angiogenesis in tumors. Under pathological conditions, RAGE is overexpressed and upon ligand binding and internalization stimulates signaling pathways that promote cell proliferation. In this work, amino dendritic polymers PEI 25 kDa and alkylated derivatives of PAMAM-G2 were engineered by the nonenzymatic Maillard glycation reaction to generate novel AGE-containing gene delivery vectors targeting the RAGE. The glycated dendritic polymers were easily prepared and retained the capability to bind and protect DNA from endonucleases. Furthermore, while glycation decreased the transfection efficiency of the dendriplexes in CHO-k1 cells which do not express RAGE, glycated dendriplexes acted as efficient transfection reagents in CHO-k1 cells which stably express recombinant RAGE. In addition, preincubation with BSA-AGEs, a natural ligand of the RAGE, or dansyl cadaverine, an inhibitor of the RAGE internalization, blocked transfection, confirming their specificity toward RAGE. The results were confirmed in NRK and RAW264.7 cell lines, which naturally express the receptor. The glycated compounds retain their transfection efficiency in the presence of serum and promote in vivo transfection in a mouse model. Accordingly, RAGE is a suitable molecular target for the development of site-directed engineered glycated nonviral gene vectors.