Work

Enhancing polyethylenimine's delivery of plasmid DNA into mammalian cells

Year: 2002

Type: article

Abstract: The effect of various chemical modifications of nitrogen atoms on the efficiency of polyethylenimines (PEIs) as synthetic vectors for the delivery of plasmid DNA into monkey kidney cells in vitro has been systematically investigated. The resultant structure-activity relationship has both provided mechanistic insights and led to PEI derivatives with markedly enhanced performance. For example, N-acylation of PEI with the molecular mass of 25 kDa (PEI25, one of the most potent polycationic gene delivery vectors) with alanine nearly doubles its transfection efficiency in the presence of serum and also lowers its toxicity. Furthermore, dodecylation of primary amino groups of 2-kDa PEI yields a nontoxic polycation whose transfection efficiency in the presence of serum is 400 times higher than the parent's and which exceeds 5-fold even that of PEI25.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.192581499

Authors: Mini Thomas, Alexander M. Klibanov

Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: RNA Interference and Gene Delivery

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Award: CONTROLLED RELEASE OF MACROMOLECULES