Hybridization of different antisense oligonucleotides on the surface of gold nanoparticles to silence zinc metalloproteinase gene after uptake by Leishmania major.

The use of antisense oligonucleotides is a novel strategy to treat infectious diseases. In this approach, vital mRNAs are targeted by antisense oligonucleotides. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of gold nanoparticles hybridized with different antisense oligonucleotides on Leishmania (L) major. In this project, gold nanoparticles were first synthesized, and then conjugated with primary oligonucleotides, 3'-AAA-5'. Next, conjugated gold nanoparticles (NP1) were separately hybridized with three types of antisense oligonucleotide from coding reign of GP63 gene (NP2), non-coding reign of GP63 gene (NP3), and both coding and non-coding reigns of GP63 (NP4). Then, 1mL of L. major suspension was separately added to 1mL of different hybridized gold nanoparticles at serial concentrations (1-200μg/mL), and incubated for 24, 48, and 72h at 37°C. Next, the uptake of each nanoparticle was separately measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy. After incubation, the cell viability was separately evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide assay. Also, the expression of GP63 gene was read out by quantitative-real-time PCR. This study showed that NP2 and NP3 had higher (5-fold) uptake than NP1 and NP4. Moreover, NP2 and NP3 led to less cell viability and gene expression, compared with NP1 and NP4. It could be concluded that both sequence and size of antisense oligonucleotide were important for transfection of L. major. Importantly, these antisense oligonucleotides can be obtained from both coding and non-coding reign of GP63 gene. Moreover, hybridized gold nanoparticles not only could silence GP63 gene, but also could kill L. major.