Previous work (Wheeler et al, Gene Therapy 1999; 6: 271-281) has shown that
plasmid DNA can be entrapped in 'stabilized plasmid-lipid particles' (SPLP
) containing the fusogenic lipid dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE), l
ow levels (5-10 mol%) of cationic lipid, and stabilized by a polyethylenegl
ycol (PEG) coating. The PEG moieties are attached to a ceramide anchor cont
aining an arachidoyl acyl group (PEG-CerC(20)). These SPLP exhibit low tran
sfection potencies in vitro, due in part to the long residence time pf the
PEG-CerC(20) on the SPLP surface. In this work we employed SPLP stabilized
by PEG attached to ceramide containing an octanoyl acyl group (PEG-CerC(B))
, which is able to quickly exchange out of the SPLP, to develop systems tha
t give rise to optimized in vitro and in vivo (regional) transfection. A pa
rticular objective was to achieve cationic lipid contents that give rise to
maximum transfection levels. If is shown that-by performing the dialysis p
rocedure in the presence of increasing concentrations of citrate, SPLP cont
aining up to 30 mol% of the cationic lipid dioleoydimethylammonium chloride
(DODAC) could be generated. The SPLP produced could be isolated from empty
vesicles by sucrose density gradient centrifugation, and exhibited a narro
w size distribution (62 +/- 8 nm, as determined by freeze-fracture electron
microscopy) and a high plasmid-to-lipid ratio of 65 mu g/mu mol (correspon
ding to one plasmid per particle) regardless of the DODAC content It was fo
und that isolated SPLP containing 20-24 mol% DODAC resulted in optimum tran
sfection of COS-7 and HepG2 cells in vitro, with luciferase expression leve
ls comparable to those achieved for plasmid DNA-cationic lipid complexes. I
n vivo studies employing an intraperitoneal B16 tumor model and intraperito
neal administration of SPLP also demonstrated maximum luciferase expression
for DODAC contents of 20-24 mol% and significantly improved gene expressio
n in tumor tissue as compared with complexes. We conclude that SPLP stabili
zed by PEG-CerC(8) and containing 20-24 mol% cationic lipid are attractive
alternatives to plasmid DNA-cationic lipid complexes for regional gene ther
apy applications.