1. Academic Validation
  2. Buffer optimization of siRNA-lipid nanoparticles mitigates lipid oxidation and RNA-lipid adduct formation

Buffer optimization of siRNA-lipid nanoparticles mitigates lipid oxidation and RNA-lipid adduct formation

  • Nat Commun. 2025 Sep 25;16(1):8380. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63651-4.
Daniel A Estabrook 1 Lihua Huang 2 Olivia R Lucchese 3 Dylan J Charland 3 Zhao Yu 2 Fareed Bhasha Sayyed 4 Jonas Y Buser 2 Younghoon Oh 3 Xingyan Liu 3 Harmon A Johnson 3 Kenneth G Rodriguez 3 Noah A Wambolt 5 Sonia A Corba 5 Geoffrey T Nash 2 Dennis Yang 2 Tingting Wang 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Lilly Seaport Innovation Center, Boston, MA, USA. estabrook_daniel@lilly.com.
  • 2 Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
  • 3 Lilly Seaport Innovation Center, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 4 Eli Lilly Services India Pvt Ltd., Bengaluru, India.
  • 5 Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Professional Scientific Services, LLC, Lancaster, PA, USA.
Abstract

Lipid nanoparticles are a versatile class of clinically approved drug delivery vehicles, particularly for nucleic acid cargoes. Despite this, these Materials often suffer from instability issues that limit shelf-life or necessitate storage at ultra-cold temperatures. Herein, we demonstrate that the oxidation of unsaturated hydrocarbons within ionizable lipid tails results in the production of a dienone species that changes the conformation of the lipid tail and generates an electrophilic degradant that reacts with neighboring siRNA cargoes to produce siRNA-lipid adducts. This mechanism highlights the interplay between lipid degradation, colloidal instability, RNA-lipid adduct formation, and loss of bioactivity. In this work, we show that revised drug product matrixes, including mildly acidic, histidine-containing formulations, can improve room temperature stability of siRNA-lipid nanoparticles by mitigating these oxidative degradation mechanisms.

Figures
Products