Rigorous control of vesicle-forming lipid pKa by fluorine-conjugated bioisosteres for gene-silencing with siRNA

While the influence of pKa provided by amine-containing materials in siRNA delivery vectors for use in gene-silencing has been widely studied, there are little reports in which amine pKa is controlled rigorously by using bioisosteres and its effect on gene-silencing. Here, we report that amine pKa could be rigorously controlled by replacement of hydrogen atom(s) with fluorine atom(s). A series of mono- and di-amine lipids with a different number of fluorine atoms were synthesized. The pKa of the polyamine lipids was shifted to a lower value with an increase in the number of fluorine atoms. The optimal pKa for high gene-silencing efficiency varied according to the number of amine residues in the polyamine lipid. Whereas the endosomal escape ability of mono-amine lipid-containing lipid vesicles (LVs) depended on the pKa, that of all tested di-amine lipid-containing LVs showed equal membrane-destabilizing activity. LVs showing moderately weak interactions with siRNA facilitated cytoplasmic release of siRNA, resulting in strong gene-silencing. These findings indicate that appropriate amine pKa engineering depending on the number of amines is important for the induction of effective RNA interference.