Safety pharmacology of self-assembled-micelle inhibitory RNA-targeting amphiregulin (SAMiRNA-AREG), a novel siRNA nanoparticle platform

Abstract The present safety pharmacology core battery studies (neurobehavior, respiratory, cardiovascular system, and human ether a-go-go (hERG) channel current) investigated the potential harmful effects of self-assembled-micelle inhibitory RNA-targeting amphiregulin (SAMiRNA-AREG). The SAMiRNA-AREG was administered by single intravenous injection at up to 300 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg in mice and monkeys, respectively. The hERG assay was performed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells at SAMiRNA-AREG concentrations of up to 200 μg/mL. In the evaluation on neurobehavior, a transient decrease in body temperature was found at 0.5 hr (30 min) post-dose at both sexes in mice, with a single 300 mg/kg dose of SAMiRNA-AREG. However, these effects had returned to normal at 1 hr post-dose. In the evaluation on hERG channel current, there were statistically significant differences in the inhibition of peak hERG potassium channel current between the 20, 100, and 200 µg/mL SAMiRNA-AREG treatment groups and the vehicle control group. However, these effects were less potent than that of E-4031, a positive control article. For the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, no treatment-related changes were observed in mice or monkeys. Thus, under these experimental conditions, these studies suggest that SAMiRNA-AREG showed no adverse effects on the neurobehavior, respiratory, and cardiovascular function.