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Transfection Of Human Platelets With Short Interfering Rna., Wei Hong, Altaf A Kondkar, Srikanth Nagalla, Wolfgang Bergmeier, Ying Jin, Jay Herman, Paul Bray

Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research

Platelets contain mRNAs and are capable of translating mRNA into protein, and it has been previously demonstrated that platelets increase their levels of integrin β3 overtime while in blood bank storage conditions. We are unaware of prior attempts to introduce nucleic acids into platelets. Considering the potential clinical and research utility of manipulating platelet gene expression, we tested whether small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) could be transfected into normal human platelets. Multiple conditions were tested, including lipofectamine versus electroporation, different amounts of siRNA, the effect of different buffers and the presence of plasma during transfection, and the time for optimal siRNA …