Cationic glyconanoparticles: their complexation with DNA, cellular uptake, and transfection efficiencies.

There is a need to synthesize new gene delivery vehicles that can deal with the problems of endosomal escape and nuclear entry. We propose cationic glycopolymer-stabilized gold nanoparticles as an effective gene delivery system. The cationic glyconanoparticles synthesized were revealed to be biocompatible and are resistant to aggregation in physiological conditions. The complexation of DNA to the cationic glyconanoparticles is determined by agarose gel electrophoresis. The localization of the DNA-glyconanoparticles inside the Hela cell line and their mechanism of uptake is studied by confocal microscopy. Finally, the efficacy of the glyconanoparticles as gene delivery vehicles in vitro is studied by their complexation with cyanine fluorescence protein encoded plasmid, and the transfection efficiency is found to be comparable to the commercially available control Lipofectamine 2000.