Mechanism of pH-sensitive Amphiphilic Endosomal Escape of Ionizable Lipid Nanoparticles for Cytosolic Nucleic Acid Delivery
Zheng‐Rong Lu, Da Sun
Abstract
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are among the most successful classes of nonviral delivery systems for nucleic acid-based therapeutics in treating human diseases. One of the key challenges in achieving efficient cytosolic delivery of nucleic acids is overcoming endosomal entrapment within cells. Conventional lipid bilayer-forming cationic and amino lipids mediate endosomal escape via the mechanism of lamellar-to-inverted hexagonal phase transition, resulting in suboptimal cytosolic cargo delivery. pH-sensitive amphiphilic cell membrane disruption and endosomal escape have emerged as a strategy for designing protonatable or ionizable lipids, especially nonlamellar lipids, for efficient cytosolic nucleic acid delivery. Nonlamellar amino lipids possess a large wedge-shaped tail structure and do not form stable lipid bilayers. These lipids and their corresponding LNPs remain neutral, non-amphiphilic, or minimally amphiphilic at physiological pH (7.4). They become amphiphilic upon protonation or ionization in acidic endosomes (pH 6.5-5.4). The electrostatic interaction of ionized nonlamellar lipids with the negatively charged endosome membrane, combined with their large wedge-like structures, disrupts the lipid bilayer, facilitating efficient endosomal escape. Additionally, the nonlamellar ionizable lipids can be fine-tuned by altering the structure of amino head groups and lipid tails to achieve the precisely controlled pH-sensitive amphiphilic membrane disruption at endosomal pH. Therefore, these lipids exhibit excellent safety profiles and high efficiency for in vivo delivery of various therapeutic nucleic acids. pH-sensitive amphiphilic membrane disruption and endosomal escape provide a feasible and effective mechanism for designing ionizable lipids for safe and efficient in vivo nucleic acid delivery.