Polyelectrolyte complexes of hTERT siRNA and polyethyleneimine: Effect of degree of PEG grafting on biological and cellular activity.

Polyelectrolyte complexes of hTERT siRNA and polyethyleneimine: Effect of degree of PEG grafting on biological and cellular activity. Artif Cells Nanomed Biotechnol. 2015 Jul 31;:1-8 Authors: Safari F, Tamaddon AM, Zarghami N, Abolmali S, Akbarzadeh A Abstract Gene silencing by siRNA (short interfering RNA)-targeted human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) is considered a successful strategy for cancer gene therapy. Polyelectrolyte complexes (PEC) of siRNA and cationic polymers such as polyethyleneimine (PEI) have been widely used for cellular transfection; however, they demonstrate some disadvantages such as cytotoxicity and extracellular matrix restrictions. PEG grafting technology was used in an attempt to improve the biocompatibility of PECs. Considering that this technology may compromise the cellular uptake of PECs, we aimed to study the effect of degree of PEI PEGylation on the carrier cytotoxicity, cellular association, and transfection efficiency of hTERT siRNA in the lung cancer cell line A549. Activated NHS ester of methoxy PEG-COOH 5 KDa was grafted to hyperbranched PEI 25 KDa in the molar ratios of 0.2 and 1. The copolymers were characterized by (1)H-NMR spectroscopy. PECs of PEI or PEG-g-PEI with siRNA, alone or co-incubated with heparin sulfate, were studied by the ethidium bromide exclusion assay. Cytotoxicity of the polymers (PEG-g-PEI vs PEI), alone and upon formation of PEC nanoparticles with hTERT siRNA, was...
Source: Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine and Biotechnology - Category: Biotechnology Tags: Artif Cells Nanomed Biotechnol Source Type: research