Biodegradable polyamines have long been studied as potential recombinant viral gene vectors.Spermine(SPE) is an endogenous tetra-amine with excellent biocompatibility yet poor gene condensation capacity. We have previ...Biodegradable polyamines have long been studied as potential recombinant viral gene vectors.Spermine(SPE) is an endogenous tetra-amine with excellent biocompatibility yet poor gene condensation capacity. We have previously synthesized a polyspermine based on SPE and poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG)diacrylate(SPE-alt-PEG) for enhanced transfection performance, but the synthesized SPE-alt-PEG still lacked specificity towards cancer cells. In this study, folic acid(FA) was incorporated into SPE-alt-PEG to fabricate a targeted gene delivery vector(FA-SPE-PEG) via an acylation reaction. FA-SPE-PEG exhibited mild cytotoxicity in both cancer cells and normal cells. FA-SPE-PEG possessed higher transfection efficiency than PEI 25 K and Lipofectamines2000 in two tested cancer cell lines at functional weight ratios, and its superiority over untargeted SPE-alt-PEG was prominent in cells with overexpressed folate receptors(FRs). Moreover, in vivo delivery of green fluorescent protein(GFP) with FA-SPE-PEG resulted in highest fluorescent signal intensity of all investigated groups. FA-SPE-PEG showed remarkably enhanced specificity towards cancer cells both in vivo and in vitro due to the interaction between FA and FRs. Taken together, FA-SPE-PEG was demonstrated to be a prospective targeted gene delivery vector with high transfection capacity and excellent biocompatibility.展开更多
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.81573369,21301191,81570696 and 31270985)the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province,China(Grant Nos.BK20130661 and BK20140659)the Research and Innovation Project of Jiangsu Province(Grant No.KYLX15_0640)
文摘Biodegradable polyamines have long been studied as potential recombinant viral gene vectors.Spermine(SPE) is an endogenous tetra-amine with excellent biocompatibility yet poor gene condensation capacity. We have previously synthesized a polyspermine based on SPE and poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG)diacrylate(SPE-alt-PEG) for enhanced transfection performance, but the synthesized SPE-alt-PEG still lacked specificity towards cancer cells. In this study, folic acid(FA) was incorporated into SPE-alt-PEG to fabricate a targeted gene delivery vector(FA-SPE-PEG) via an acylation reaction. FA-SPE-PEG exhibited mild cytotoxicity in both cancer cells and normal cells. FA-SPE-PEG possessed higher transfection efficiency than PEI 25 K and Lipofectamines2000 in two tested cancer cell lines at functional weight ratios, and its superiority over untargeted SPE-alt-PEG was prominent in cells with overexpressed folate receptors(FRs). Moreover, in vivo delivery of green fluorescent protein(GFP) with FA-SPE-PEG resulted in highest fluorescent signal intensity of all investigated groups. FA-SPE-PEG showed remarkably enhanced specificity towards cancer cells both in vivo and in vitro due to the interaction between FA and FRs. Taken together, FA-SPE-PEG was demonstrated to be a prospective targeted gene delivery vector with high transfection capacity and excellent biocompatibility.
