Polyethylenimine (PEI, especially with M(w) of 25,000) has been known as an efficient gene carrier and a gold standard of gene transfection due to its high transfection efficiency (TE). However, high concomitant cytotoxicity limited the application of PEI. In this report, several cationic polymers derived from low molecular weight (LMW) PEI (M(w) 600) linked with diglycidyl adipate (DA-PEI) or ...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cytokine response induced by linear and branched polyethylenimine (PEI)/plasmid DNA (pDNA) complex (polyplex) in relation to the ratio of PEI nitrogen and DNA phosphate (N/P ratio) of the polyplex, dose of pDNA, and structure and molecular weight of PEI, which are important for transfection efficacy of PEI polyplex. As a control, a N-[1-(2, 3-dioley...

A target-specific delivery system of green fluorescent protein (GFP) small interfering RNA (siRNA) plasmid DNA was developed by using folate-modified cationic polyethylenimine (PEI). A GFP siRNA plasmid vector (pSUPER-siGFP), which inhibits the synthesis of GFP, was constructed and used for suppressing GFP expression in folate receptor over-expressing cells (KB cells) in a target-specific manne...

The in vitro activities of 10 families of antimicrobial agents alone and in combination with a synthetic polycationic polymer, polyethylenimine (PEI), against a resistant clinical isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were investigated by MIC assays, checkerboard testing, and killing curve studies. At a concentration of 250 nM, PEI (10 kDa) was not directly bactericidal or bacteriostatic; but when ...

Gene therapy has great potential for human diseases. Development of efficient delivery systems is critical to its clinical translation. Recent studies have shown that microbubbles in combination with ultrasound (US) can be used to facilitate gene delivery. An aim of this study is to investigate whether the combination of US-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) and polyethylenimine (PEI) (UTM...

BACKGROUND Small interfering RNA (siRNA) can silence target genes in the cytoplasm and be a major tool in gene therapy. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potent regulator of angiogenesis, is overexpressed in most tumors and is closely associated with tumor growth and metastasis. It has been shown that inhibition of VEGF expression by siRNA is an effective and useful method for antian...

Polyinosine-polycytidylic acid [pIC] is a synthetic dsRNA that acts as an immune agonist of TLR3 and RLR to activate dendritic and natural killer cells that can kill tumor cells. pIC can also trigger apoptosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells (PDAC) but its mechanism of action is obscure. In this study, we investigated the potential therapeutic activity of a formulation of pIC with pol...

The aim of the present study was to optimize the polyethylenimine (PEI)-mediated transfection method in order to simplify the efficient production of lentiviral vectors (LvVs), and to compare the CaPO4- and PEI-mediated transfection methods for producing LvVs. Different titration methods of LvV stocks, as well as different culture media, culture durations, cell densities and DNA quantities were...

Nanotechnology has made a significant impact on the development of nanomedicine. Nonviral vectors have been attracting more attention for the advantage of biosafety in gene delivery. Polyethylenimine (PEI)-conjugated chitosan (chitosan-g-PEI) emerged as a promising nonviral vector and has been demonstrated in many tumor cells. However, there is a lack of study focused on the behavior of this ve...

Benefiting from their unique physicochemical properties, graphene derivatives have attracted great attention in biomedicine. In this study, we carefully engineered graphene oxide (GO) as a vaccine adjuvant for immunotherapy using urease B (Ure B) as the model antigen. Ure B is a specific antigen for Helicobacter pylori, which is a class I carcinogen for gastric cancer. Polyethylene glycol (PEG)...