Back to Search Start Over

Gold Nanoparticle-Mediated Photoporation Enables Delivery of Macromolecules over a Wide Range of Molecular Weights in Human CD4+ T Cells

Authors :
Laurens Raes
Clarissa Van Hecke
Julie Michiels
Stephan Stremersch
Juan C. Fraire
Toon Brans
Ranhua Xiong
Stefaan De Smedt
Linos Vandekerckhove
Koen Raemdonck
Kevin Braeckmans
Source :
Crystals, Vol 9, Iss 8, p 411 (2019)
Publication Year :
2019
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2019.

Abstract

The modification of CD4+ T cells with exogenous nucleic acids or proteins is a critical step in several research and therapeutic applications, such as HIV studies and cancer immunotherapies. However, efficient cell transfections are not always easily achieved when working with these primary hard-to-transfect cells. While the modification of T cells is typically performed by viral transduction or electroporation, their use is associated with safety issues or cytotoxicity. Vapor nanobubble (VNB) photoporation with sensitizing gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has recently emerged as a new technology for safe and flexible cell transfections. In this work, we evaluated the potential of VNB photoporation as a novel technique for the intracellular delivery of macromolecules in primary human CD4+ T cells using fluorescent dextrans as model molecules. Our results show that VNB photoporation enables efficient delivery of fluorescent dextrans of 10 kDa in Jurkat (>60% FD10+ cells) as well as in primary human CD4+ T cells (±40% FD10+ cells), with limited cell toxicity (>70% cell viability). We also demonstrated that the technique allows the delivery of dextrans that are up to 500 kDa in Jurkat cells, suggesting its applicability for the delivery of biological macromolecules with a wide range of molecular weights. Altogether, VNB photoporation represents a promising technique for the universal delivery of macromolecules in view of engineering CD4+ T cells for use in a wide variety of research and therapeutic applications.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20734352
Volume :
9
Issue :
8
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Crystals
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.5f79c192ee3943908590f8ae3310d25b
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst9080411