Nucleic Acid Delivery | GenAhead Bio Inc.

Our Nucleic Acid Delivery Technology

Our proprietary technology is a conjugate which comprises an antibody or its fragment, a linker, and nucleic acids.
By linking nucleic acids to specific antibodies or antibody fragments that recruit the nucleic acids into the target cells to harness their potential for disease treatment with their knockdown effects on causal gene expression.
When the antibodies target a receptor of iron carrier protein; transferrin, called Transferrin Receptor (TfR = CD71), the conjugate can deliver nucleic acids to many tissues/cells, especially muscle, heart, and white blood cells,
Our conjugates provide novel delivery method for entry into the tissues that current nucleic acid delivery methods cannot access.

About current nucleic acid delivery methods

Adeno-Associated Virus Vector (AAV)
Nucleic acid delivery method using Adeno-Associated Virus as a vector. It cannot be used in patients with neutralizing antibodies due to immunogenicity and hepatotoxicity issues. It is estimated that 30% to 40% of the population has neutralizing antibodies.
Lipid Nanoparticle (LNP)
It is a delivery system that encapsulates nucleic acids in a non-viral lipid. Still, it is challenging to deliver to cells outside the liver by intravenous injection because it can only leak out through the sinusoidal endothelial cell pores of the liver, which are 50 nm to 200 nm in diameter.
N-Acetyl-Galactosamine (GalNAc)
A complex that binds nucleic acids to GalNAc, which shows high affinity and specificity for asialoglycoprotein receptors expressed in the liver, for uptake of nucleic acids into hepatocytes. However, it can be delivered only to the liver.

We were the first in the world to develop oligonucleotides delivery technology using antibodies against TfR (=CD71) (anti-TfR antibodies).

We have obtained a variety of anti-human TfR (CD71) antibodies that do not compete with transferrin binding. Antibodies that bind to monomers do not necessarily mean that they also bind preferentially to dimers. GenAhead antibodies recognize TfR (CD71) dimer found on the cell surface.

The binding affinities of several anti-TfR Ab clones to epitopes A,B,B’, C, and D are shown in the table. Silencing activities were evaluated among various anti-TfR clone-conjugated anti-HPRT siRNA measuring the expression of HPRT in human cells.
The conjugates prepared from high-affinity antibodies are highlighted in the red box, suggesting that high-affinity antibodies do not always show potent silencing.

hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase 1:HPRT
HPRT expression works as a good reporter for the siRNA function.

In vitro and in vivo studies of siRNA (siHPRT) conjugate show that nucleic acids reach the cytoplasm, and that siRNA has a silencing effect.

A single intravenous dose of anti-TfR (CD71) antibody fragment - siHPRT (10 mg/kg) caused sustained silencing in the gastrocnemius and heart for one month. (siNC = negative control siRNA)

The siRNA final concentration is the same for the same number of treatments to human cell lines. The gene suppression is stronger in every third day, suggesting that the long interval gives the cells more opportunity for receptor-mediated endocytosis. Anti-human TfR antibody-siRNA shows more potent silencing in lower concentrations but less potent in higher concentrations when compared with the fragment.

Presenilin-1 (P117L) is a known mutation found in familial Alzheimer's disease. Here we show an example of generating a cellular model of Alzheimer's disease by introducing Presenilin-1 (P117L) donor oligonucleotide bound to an anti-TfR antibody fragment into the cells.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) occurs when blood flow in lower extremity blood vessels decreases due to aging, obesity, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and other factors. Skeletal muscles are affected, resulting in intermittent claudication that causes pain when walking and, in more advanced cases, pain at rest and even amputation of the lower limb.
We created an animal model of a skeletal muscle disorder that recapitulates PAD by performing femoral artery ligation (FAL) in mice. Forty μg of anti-TfR antibody fragment-siRNA (target gene: myostatin) was injected weekly into the gastrocnemius muscle, and the running distances were measured four weeks later.

The nucleic acids to be conjugated are not only siRNAs that function in the cytoplasm, but also antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) or genome-editing oligonucleotides that function in the nucleus.

Licensing of anti-TfR antibody (fragment) nucleic acid conjugates
Developmental research using anti-TfR antibody (fragment) nucleic acid conjugates
Providing our humanized anti-hTfR antibodies
Collaboration (partners wanted)
- Payload: mRNA, RNA/genome editing oligo, PMO, ASO, siRNA
  (PMO = Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers )
- Our technology
  - Nucleic acid field
    - siRNA design
    - nucleic acid quantification of LNP samples
    - internalization rate measurement
    - conjugation of linkers to nucleic acids
  - Antibody field
    - antibody fragmentation
    - antibody modification of LNP samples
    - sequencing and humanization of mouse & rat monoclonal antibody variable regions
    - binding of nucleic acids to antibodies provided by partners