Gene silencing by RNA interference (RNAi) is a promising therapeutic approach for a wide variety of diseases for which the biological cause is known. The main challenge remains the ineffective RNAi delivery inside the cells. Non-viral gene delivery vectors have low immunogenicity compared to viral vectors, but are constrained by their reduced transfection efficiency. Silencing of the bcr-abl gene expression by RNAi confers therapeutic potential in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), but is limited by the cytotoxicity of the existing delivery methods. Here, we present evidence that the fusion between the cell penetrating peptide (CPP) HIV-Tat (49-57) and the membrane lytic peptide (LK15), Tat-LK15, mediates high transfection efficiency in delivering short hairpin RNA (shRNA) and small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting the BCR-ABL oncoprotein in K562 CML cells. Our results show that shRNA complexes induce a more stable gene silencing of bcr-abl when compared to silencing mediated by siRNA complexes. In addition, silencing of the BCR-ABL oncoprotein by both shRNA and siRNA delivered by Tat-LK15 is more efficient and longer lasting than that achieved using Lipofectamine and more importantly without considerable cytotoxicity. In these terms Tat-LK15 can be an alternative to DNA/siRNA delivery in difficult-to-transfect leukemic cells.

The use of cell penetrating peptides (CPPs), such as Tat-derived peptide, to deliver DNA into cells is limited as evidenced by the low transfection efficiency of their DNA complexes. Here, we demonstrate that covalent attachment of membrane active peptide LK15 to Tat peptide improves gene transfer. Our results demonstrate that Tat peptide was able to form complexes with DNA, but their transfection efficiency was insufficient as assessed by luciferase assay. The attachment of LK15 to Tat significantly improved the physiochemical properties of the DNA complexes, rendered the complexes membrane active and enhanced the gene expression in HT29 and in HT1080 cultured cells. The enhanced transfection ability of Tat-LK15 compared to Tat is likely to be due mainly to the higher uptake of DNA. Finally, we evaluated the penetration and transfection ability of Tat and Tat-LK15 in multicellular tumour spheroids (MCTS) to mimic in vivo delivery to tumours. The results showed that the penetration and transfection ability of Tat and Tat-LK15/DNA complexes were limited to the rim of HT29 spheroids. Taken together, our data shows improvement in the transfection efficiency of Tat peptide by covalent attachment to LK15. Further advancements are needed before any potential applications in tissues as the penetration into the core of MCTS remains severely restricted.

The prevalence of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) and natural antisense transcripts (NATs) has been reported in a variety of organisms. While a consensus has yet to be reached on their global importance, an increasing number of examples have been shown to be functional, regulating gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional level. Here, we use RNA sequencing data from the ABI SOLiD platform to identify lncRNA and NATs obtained from samples of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa grown under different light and temperature conditions. We identify 939 novel lncRNAs, of which 477 are antisense to annotated genes. Across the whole dataset, the extent of overlap between sense and antisense transcripts is large: 371 sense/antisense transcripts are complementary over 500 nts or more and 236 overlap by more than 1000 nts. Most prevalent are 3′ end overlaps between convergently transcribed sense/antisense pairs, but examples of divergently transcribed pairs and nested transcripts are also present. We confirm the expression of a subset of sense/antisense transcript pairs by qPCR. We examine the size, types of overlap and expression levels under the different environmental stimuli of light and temperature, and identify 11 lncRNAs that are up-regulated in response to light. We also find differences in transcript length and the position of introns between protein-coding transcripts that have antisense expression and transcripts with no antisense expression. These results demonstrate the ability of N. crassa lncRNAs and NATs to be regulated by different environmental stimuli and provide the scope for further investigation into the function of NATs.

P-glycoprotein is implicated in clinical drug resistance; thus, rapid quantitative analysis of its expression and activity is of paramout importance to the design and success of novel therapeutics. The scope for the application of quantitative imaging and image analysis tools in this field is reported here at "proof of concept" level. P-glycoprotein expression was utilized as a model for quantitative immunofluorescence and subsequent spatial intensity distribution analysis (SpIDA). Following expression studies, p-glycoprotein inhibition as a function of verapamil concentration was assessed in two cell lines using live cell imaging of intracellular Calcein retention and a routine monolayer fluorescence assay. Intercellular and sub-cellular distributions in the expression of the p-glycoprotein transporter between parent and MDR1-transfected Madin-Derby Canine Kidney cell lines were examined. We have demonstrated that quantitative imaging can provide dose-response parameters while permitting direct microscopic analysis of intracellular fluorophore distributions in live and fixed samples. Analysis with SpIDA offers the ability to detect heterogeniety in the distribution of labeled species, and in conjunction with live cell imaging and immunofluorescence staining may be applied to the determination of pharmacological parameters or analysis of biopsies providing a rapid prognostic tool.

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