Evaluation of the toxicity and efficacy of a multi-target polymer-drug nano-polyplex in SH-SY5Y cells and Drosophila model of tauopathy.

Mahadik N., Paruchuri SN., Arif R., Coutts AS., Barron GA., Kong Thoo Lin P., Chatterjee S., Thompson CJ.

Hyperphosphorylated tau contributes to synaptic damage and neuronal dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), making it a key therapeutic target. This study evaluated the toxicity and therapeutic potential of a novel polymer-drug nano-polyplex, N5NM15, and polyacrylic acid (PAA) in Drosophila tauopathy models and undifferentiated human SH-SY5Y cells. Cellular uptake was demonstrated by N5NM15, and SH-SY5Y cell viability was significantly enhanced (45%, p ≤ 0.0001) under okadaic acid-induced stress, and total tau levels were reduced (1.43-fold, p ≤ 0.01). In comparison, PAA had a modest effect on decreasing tau phosphorylation (1.3-fold) at the pSer202/pThr205 site. Toxicity studies in Drosophila revealed that N5NM15 (3.5:1 and 44:12.5 µg/mL) and PAA (44 µg/mL) were toxic to adult flies expressing the eye-specific driver (GMR-GAL4) but were well-tolerated in flies overexpressing the pan-neuronal driver ELAV-GAL4. Furthermore, treatment with N5NM15 and PAA did not improve the ommatidial arrangement, eye bristle count, or eye length in tauopathy models. Climbing and survival assays indicated a potential mild protective effect at a lower concentration (3.5:1 µg/mL) at the early stage of the disease, but at a higher dose (44:12.5 µg/mL) was significantly toxic, in both wild-type (p ≤ 0.0001) and tauopathy models (p < 0.05). These findings highlight the need for N5NM15 and PAA dose optimisation and reformulation with non-toxic buffers to enhance therapeutic potential while minimising adverse effects in normal and Drosophila tauopathy models for AD treatment.

DOI

10.1038/s41598-025-22924-0

Type

Journal article

Publication Date

2025-11-11T00:00:00+00:00

Volume

15

Keywords

Drosophila melanogaster, Nano-polyplex, Neurodegenerative diseases, Polymer-drug conjugates, Tau, Animals, Tauopathies, Humans, Disease Models, Animal, tau Proteins, Cell Survival, Acrylic Resins, Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila, Cell Line, Tumor, Phosphorylation, Polymers, Nanoparticles

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