The safe, targeted and effective delivery of gene therapeutics remains a significant barrier to their broad clinical application. Here we develop a magnetic nucleic acid delivery system composed of iron oxide nanoparticles and cationic lipid-like materials termed lipidoids. Coated nanoparticles are capable of delivering DNA and siRNA to cells in culture. The mean hydrodynamic size of these nano...

Previously, we have reported the synthesis of a homochiral l-cyclic peptide [WR]5 and its use for delivery of anti-HIV drugs and biomolecules. A physical mixture of HAuCl4 and the peptide generated peptide-capped gold nanoparticles. Here, [WR]5 and [WR]5-AuNPs were tested for their efficiency to deliver a small interfering RNA molecule (siRNA) in human cervix adenocarcinoma (HeLa) cells. Flow c...

DNA G-rich sequences are able to form four-stranded structures organized in stacked guanine tetrads. These structures, called G-quadruplexes, were found to have an important role in the regulation of oncogenes expression and became, for such a reason, appealing targets for anticancer drugs. Aiming at finding selective G-quadruplex binders, we have designed, synthesized and characterized a new w...

A family of branched polyrotaxanes (bPRTx(+)), threaded with multiple cationic α-cyclodextrins (α-CDs) onto a multi-armed poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) core, were synthesized and studied as gene silencing vectors. These bPRTx(+) formed stable, positively charged complexes with diameters of 150-250 nm at N/P ratios as low as 2.5. The bPRTx(+) materials were shown to have gene-silencing efficiencie...

Transfection of DNA has been invaluable for biological sciences, yet the effects upon membrane homeostasis are far from negligible. Here, we demonstrate that Neuro2A cells transfected using Lipofectamine LTX with the fluorescently coupled Botulinum serotype A holoenzyme (EGFP-LcA) cDNA express this SNAP25 protease that can, once translated, escape the transfected host cytosol and become endocyt...

Nanoparticles are used to solve the current drug delivery problem. We present a high-performance method for efficient and selective action on nucleic acid target in cells using unique TiO(2)·PL-DNA nanocomposites (polylysine-containing DNA fragments noncovalently immobilized onto TiO(2) nanoparticles capable of transferring DNA). These nanocomposites were used for inhibition of human influenza ...

Efficient target gene delivery into eukaryotic cells is important for biotechnological research and gene therapy. Gene delivery based on proteins, including histones, has recently emerged as a powerful non-viral DNA transfer technique. Here, we investigated the potential use of a recombinant mussel adhesive protein, hybrid fp-151, as a gene delivery material, in view of its similar basic amino ...

A polyelectrolyte complex micelle (PECM)-based delivery system for targeting folate (FOL) receptor overexpressing tumor cells is demonstrated using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-conjugated oligonucleotide (ODN). The tumor targeting property was conferred to the PECM by tethering a folate moiety to the distal end of the PEG segment in an anti-sense green fluorescent protein (GFP) ODN-PEG conjugate...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the transfection efficiency of cationic vectors (polyethylenimine; PEI25K and lipofectamine), electroporation and their combination in the human cancer cell lines, Raji human lymphoma and KB human oral carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS Raji human lymphoma and KB human oral carcinoma cell lines were transfected with pcDNA3-CMV-Luc at various N...

RNA antagonists using locked nucleic acid (LNA) antisense oligonucleotides are among the most promising therapeutics to treat cancer. Unlike the other antisense oligonucleotides, LNA-based oligonucleotides have high target binding affinity and long tissue stability. LNA can inhibit the mRNA expression at nanomolar and subnanomolar concentrations in the presence of lipofectamine. However, system...