Efficient intracellular delivery is essential for high activity of nucleic acids based therapeutics, including antisense agents. Several strategies have been developed and practically all rely on auxiliary transfection reagents such as cationic lipids, cationic polymers and cell penetrating peptides as complexing agents and carriers of the nucleic acids. However, uptake mechanisms remain rather...

DNA is an anionic polyelectrolyte, which occupies a large volume in salt free solution due to the coulomb repulsion between the charged groups. In the presence of high valence cations, DNA condenses into nanoparticles. DNA nanoparticles have generated a lot of interest as a preferred vehicle for delivering therapeutic DNA in gene therapy. The efficiency of gene delivery is determined by stabili...

Magnetofection is a nanoparticle-mediated approach for transfection of cells, tissues, and tumors. Specific interest is in using superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as delivery system of therapeutic genes. Magnetofection has already been described in some proof-of-principle studies; however, fine tuning of the synthesis of SPIONs is necessary for its broader application. Physico...

In gene therapy, how genetic therapeutics can be efficiently and safely delivered into target tissues/cells remains a major obstacle to overcome. To address this issue, nanoparticles consisting of non-covalently coupled polyethyleneimine (PEI) and folic acid (FA) to the magnetic and fluorescent core/shell of Fe3O4@SiO2(FITC) was tested for their ability to deliver Notch-1 shRNA. Our results sho...

Use of small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a promising approach for AML treatment as the siRNA molecule can be designed to specifically target proteins that contribute to aberrant cell proliferation in this disease. However, a clinical-relevant means of delivering siRNA molecules must be developed, as the cellular delivery of siRNA is problematic. Here, we report amphiphilic carriers combining a c...

The removal of zinc and lead from aqueous dilute solutions by polymer-enhanced ultrafiltration process using unmodified starch as a new binding polymer was studied. Experiments were performed to determine the effects of transmembrane pressure, pH, concentration of metal ions on the retention and permeate flux. The performance of the proposed new binding polymer was compared to that of polyethyl...

Stem cell transfection agents have traditionally included lipofectamine, but newer agents include polyethyleneimine-coated magnetic ferro-ferric oxide nanoparticles. This study was done to compare these two methods in transfecting cultured ratmesenchymal stem cells. Magnetic ferro-ferric oxide nanoparticles were coated with polyethyleneimine using co-precipitation of alkali metal ions, forming ...

BACKGROUND Effective gene transfection without serum deprivation is a prerequisite for successful stem cell-based gene therapy. Polyethylenimine (PEI) is an efficient nonviral gene vector, but its application has been hindered by serum sensitivity and severe cytotoxicity. METHODS To solve this problem, a new family of lipopolyplexes was developed by coating PEI/DNA polyplexes with three serum...

Background: The poor permeability of the plasma and nuclear membranes to DNA plasmids are two major barriers for the development of these therapeutic molecules. Therefore, success in gene therapy approaches depends on the development of efficient and safe non-viral delivery systems. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro delivery of plasmid DNA encoding HPV16 E7 gene...