Lipid-based transfection reagents can interfere with cholesterol biosynthesis

MARINELLI RA; DANIELLI MAURO

ANALYTICAL BIOCHEMISTRY

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: Bethesda; Año: 2016 vol. 495 p. 1 - 2

0003-2697

Lipid-based transfection reagents are widely used for delivery of small interfering RNA into cells. We examined whether the commonly used commercial transfection reagents DharmaFECT-4 and Lipofectamine 2000 can interfere with lipid metabolism by studying cholesterogenesis. Cholesterol de novo synthesis from [14C]acetate was assessed in human hepatocyte-derived Huh-7 cells. The results revealed that DharmaFECT, but not Lipofectamine, markedly inhibited cholesterol biosynthesis by approximately 70%. Cell viability was not significantly altered. These findings suggest that caution is required in the choice of certain lipid-based transfection reagents for gene silencing experiments, particularly when assessing cholesterol metabolism.