Figure 1.

Nanoscale Coordination Polymers and Thiol-Modified MicroRNA Mimics

(A) Schematic showing self-assembled NCPs. (B) Illustrations of synthesized microRNAs modified with thiol. miR-655-3p mimics modified with thiol and lipid on the 5′ end of the sense strand (top) and on the 5′ end of the anti-sense strand (bottom). (C) Number-weighted diameter of NCP/miR-655 (re-dispersed in PBS) by DLS measurements. Target gene suppression by modified microRNA mimics conjugated with thiol on the 5′ end of a sense strand was validated in (D) and (E), respectively. (D) Dual-luciferase reporter activity assays. HEK293T cells were co-transfected with a luciferase vector containing the 3′ UTR of the TGFBR2 gene and each of the tested microRNA mimics (n = 6, two-tailed unpaired Student t test, *p < 0.05). (E) Expressions of miR-655-3p-targeted genes TGFBR2 and ICK were quantified by qPCR in HCT116L2T and HEK293T cells transfected with each of the tested microRNA mimics (n = 6, two-tailed unpaired Student t test, *p < 0.05). Error bars represent SDs.