Inhibition of cell proliferation and migration by chondroitin sulfate-g-polyethylenimine-mediated miR-34a delivery.

Chondroitin sulfate was chemically conjugated to PEI25K through Michael addition to construct a non-viral gene carrier CS-PEI, and then the carrier was employed in miR-34a delivery to achieve the inhibition of cell proliferation and migration, using prostate tumor cell PC-3 as a model. The nanoparticle from CS-PEI and miR-34a at a mass ratio of 10 was prepared with particle size and zeta potential of 170.7 nm and +42.2 mV, respectively. Flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy revealed that CS-PEI could efficiently induce the cellular uptake of miR-34a in a CD44-mediated endocytosis manner. Through CS-PEI-mediated miR-34a transfection, obvious cell apoptosis was observed with early apoptotic cells of 47.49%, and meanwhile the activation of caspase-3, -8 and -9, and decreased expression level of Bcl-2 were detected. Moreover, wound healing assay showed that CS-PEI/miR-34a transfection could inhibit the cell migration. Overall, CS-PEI is potentially employed as a promising tumor-targeting system for miR-34a delivery in tumor gene therapy.