Target gene delivery is needed to induce cellular differentiation or a specific therapeutic effect. Electroporation is a relatively safe and simple technique to deliver nucleic acids to the cell that acts by rendering cells transiently permeable using short periods of high voltage. In stem cell research, human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCS) are highly accessible, and they exhibit broad differe...

To examine the potential use of adenovirus vectors in cancer gene therapy as a mechanism for purging bone marrow cells of possible breast cancer contaminants, we compared the infection efficiency of adenovirus and the transfection efficiency of plasmid DNA in the presence of adenovirus in human breast cancer and bone marrow cells. Following infection of breast cancer cells with an adenovirus ex...

Intracellular delivery of biologically active proteins remains a formidable challenge in biomedical research. Here we show that biomedically relevant enzymes can be delivered into cells using a new DNA transfection reagent, lipofectamine 3000, allowing assessment of their intracellular functions. We also show that the J774.2 macrophage cell line exhibits unusual intracellular uptake of structur...

During the last years the potential role of in vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNA as a vehicle to deliver genetic information has come into focus. IVT mRNA could be used for anti-cancer therapies, vaccination purposes, generation of pluripotent stem cells and also for genome engineering or protein replacement. However, the administration of IVT mRNA into the target organ is still challenging. The lun...

We recently reported that a high level of hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) expression in tumors correlates with a high incidence of tumor relapse or distant metastasis and shortened survival time in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the mechanisms of the HDGF-associated aggressive biological behavior are unknown. In this study, we knocked down HDGF expression in NS...

PURPOSE To explore (i) the potential of polyethylenimine (PEI)-DNA nanoparticles as a vector for delivering genes into human corneal fibroblasts, and (ii) whether the nanoparticle-mediated soluble extracellular domain of the transforming growth factor-β type II receptor (sTGFβRII) gene therapy could be used to reduce myofibroblasts and fibrosis in the cornea using an in vitro model. METHODS P...

A wider application of siRNA- and miRNA- based therapeutics is restricted by the currently available delivery systems. We have designed a new type of small molecule carrier (SMoC) system for siRNA modeled to interact with cell surface proteoglycans. This bifurcated SMoC has similar affinity for the model proteoglycan heparin to an equivalent polyarginine peptide and exhibits significant mRNA kn...