Translation of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 upon Liver- and Lung-Targeted Delivery of Optimized Chemically Modified mRNA

Schrom, Eva; Huber, Maja; Aneja, Manish; Dohmen, Christian; Emrich, Daniela; Geiger, Johannes; Hasenpusch, Günther; Herrmann-Janson, Annika; Kretzschmann, Verena; Mykhailyk, Olga; Pasewald, Tamara; Oak, Prajakta; Hilgendorff, Anne; Wohlleber, Dirk; Hoymann, Heinz-Gerd; Schaudien, Dirk; Plank, Christian; Rudolph, Carsten; Kubisch-Dohmen, Rebekka

Changes in lifestyle and environmental conditions give rise to an increasing prevalence of liver and lung fibrosis, and both have a poor prognosis. Promising results have been reported for recombinant angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) protein administration in experimental liver and lung fibrosis. However, the full potential of ACE2 may be achieved by localized translation of a membrane-anchored form. For this purpose, we advanced the latest RNA technology for liver- and lung-targeted ACE2 translation. We demonstrated in vitro that transfection with ACE2 chemically modified messenger RNA (cmRNA) leads to robust translation of fully matured, membrane-anchored ACE2 protein. In a second step, we designed eight modified ACE2 cmRNA sequences and identified a lead sequence for in vivo application. Finally, formulation of this ACE2 cmRNA in tailor-made lipidoid nanoparticles and in lipid nanoparticles led to liver- and lung-targeted translation of significant amounts of ACE2 protein, respectively. In summary, we provide evidence that RNA transcript therapy (RTT) is a promising approach for ACE2-based treatment of liver and lung fibrosis to be tested in fibrotic disease models.