Every entry summarises what the study set out to test, what it found and why it changes how we design delivery systems. Browse research and reviews or search the collection.
Xuexiang Han, Ningqiang Gong, Lulu Xue, Margaret M. Billingsley, Rakan El-Mayta, Sarah J. Shepherd, Mohamad-Gabriel Alameh, Drew Weissman, Michael J. Mitchell
Liver fibrosis has no approved antifibrotic therapies. Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) drive fibrosis by producing collagen, and HSP47 is a key collagen chaperone in these cells. Targeted delivery of siRNA to activated HSCs remains challenging, so a ligand-tethered LNP platform was developed to deliver RNA selectively to activated fibroblasts/HSCs. Lead AA-T3A-C12 LNP achieved >80% GFP knockdown at 50 nM in activated 3T3-GFP fibroblasts; knockdown significantly reduced by haloperidol (p = 0.009), confirming sigma receptor dependence. - In fibroblast/hepatocyte.
Rasheid Smith, Emad I. Wafa, Sean M. Geary, Kareem Ebeid, Suhaila O. Alhaj-Suliman, Aliasger K. Salem
Cancer vaccines as monotherapies have displayed limited clinical success due to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Nanoscale formulations can enhance vaccine efficacy by combating TME immunosuppression, but there is a need for novel adjuvant formulations that can be combined with therapeutic cancer vaccines to improve antitumor immune responses and survival. ### Nanoparticle Characterization & Uptake | Parameter | PMG3 | PMG4 | PMG5 | |---------------|----------|----------|----------| | Hydrodynamic diameter | 231.7 ± 2.4 nm | 172.4 ± 3.0 nm | ~170 nm | | Zeta potential |.
Yulia Eygieris, Mohit Gupta, Jeonghwan Kim, Gaurav Sahay
LNPs enabled the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and the first siRNA-LNP drug, but there is still no one-size-fits-all LNP for every RNA therapeutic. A better chemistry-level understanding of LNP self-assembly, component roles, and whole-particle properties is needed to rationally design safer and more efficient RNA delivery systems. ## 3. Hypothesis / Central Thesis LNP performance is governed by the coordinated chemistry of ionizable lipids, sterols Ionizable lipids typically have tertiary amine headgroups and biodegradable ester linkers; cpKa ~9–10.5, LNP pKa ~6–7, and cLogD ~10–14 are associated with potency. - Cholesterol analogues can strongly.
Sérgio Scalzo, Anderson K. Santos, Heloisa A. S. Ferreira, Pedro A. Costa, Pedro H. D. M. Prazeres, Natalia J. A. Da Silva, Lays C. Guimarães, Mário De Morais E Silva, Marco T. R. Rodrigues Alves, Celso T. R. Viana, Itamar C. G. Jesus, Alice P. Rodrigues, Alexander Birbrair, Anderson O. Lobo, Freder
Cardiomyocytes are hard-to-transfect cells, and gene therapy for cardiovascular disease is limited by insufficient delivery to cardiac tissue, nucleic acid degradation, and safety concerns with viral vectors. A safe, effective non-viral platform for pDNA delivery to cardiomyocytes is needed. LNP4 was the top performer: ~1.3-fold higher GFP fluorescence than the second-best LNP8 and ~10-fold higher than the lowest performer LNP6. - LNP4 achieved >60% transfection efficiency at day 2 and >80% at day 4 in.
Dapeng Zhang, Elena N. Atochina-Vasserman, Devendra S. Maurya, Ning Huang, Qi Xiao, Nathan Ona, Matthew Liu, Hamna Shahnawaz, Houping Ni, Kyunghee Kim, Margaret M. Billingsley, Darrin J. Pochan, Michael J. Mitchell, Drew Weissman, Virgil Percec
Four-component lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) represent the leading non-viral vectors for mRNA delivery, but they have limitations including: (1) segregation of the neutral ionizable lipid as droplets in the LNP core, reducing transfection efficiency to ~1-2%; (2) the "PEG dilemma" where PEGylation increases circulation time but decreases cellular uptake and endosomal escape; and (3) instability at temperatures above -70°C. A one-component system. ### IAJD Libraries & DNP Formation | Parameter | Result | |---------------|------------| | Total IAJDs synthesized | 54 (6 libraries) | | In vitro active DNPs | 44/54 (81%) | | In vivo active DNPs | 31/54 (57%) | | DNPs.
Emily Harris, Devon Zimmerman, Eric Warga, Anil Bamezai, Jacob Elmer
Retroviral gene delivery for T cell therapies is expensive, semi-randomly integrating, and variable between patients. Non-viral alternatives are needed, but T cells are notoriously hard to transfect, especially primary T cells. Lipofectamine LTX was the best vehicle in Jurkat cells; optimized conditions in X-VIVO media yielded 63.0 ± 10.9% EGFP+ Jurkat cells vs. 23.1 ± 5.5% in RPMI. - Primary CD3+ T cells reached only 8.1 ± 0.8% EGFP+ under.
Johan Karlsson, Stephanie Y. Tzeng, Shayan Hemmati, Kathryn M. Luly, Olivia Choi, Yuan Rui, David R. Wilson, Kristen L. Kozielski, Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, Jordan J. Green
Systemic delivery of RNA therapeutics with polymer-based nanocarriers is limited by poor colloidal stability in blood and inefficient intracellular delivery of siRNA to the cytosol. There is a need for nanoparticles that remain stable extracellularly but rapidly release RNA intracellularly. Crosslinking: Molecular weight increased by 42.1% (Mn) and 27.7% (Mw); acrylate peak intensity decreased by 79.1% ± 0.3%. - Serum stability: XbNPs retained siRNA encapsulation in 50% serum; non-crosslinked formulations.
siRNA therapeutics are limited by poor cellular uptake, serum nuclease degradation, and inefficient endosomal/lysosomal escape. Chitosan is biocompatible and biodegradable but has low transfection efficiency, largely due to poor buffering capacity and weak endosomal escape. Histidine grafting was explored to add imidazole groups (pKa ~6) that enhance proton-sponge buffering and siRNA delivery. Synthesis: FT-IR showed amide C=O at 1640 cm⁻¹ and N–H bending shift from 1590 to 1522 cm⁻¹; histidine O–H at 3016 cm⁻¹ disappeared. XRD showed loss of histidine crystal peaks at 18.8° and 24.3°, and HGCS polymers were.
Rodgers, T., Muzzio, N., Watson, C., & Romero, G. (2021).
Gene-editing tools are large plasmid constructs that cannot spontaneously enter mammalian cells, and viral vectors are limited by cargo size, immunogenicity, and manufacturing challenges. PBAE nanoparticles are promising nonviral carriers, but unmodified PEG-PDHA nanoparticles release encapsulated plasmid DNA too rapidly for efficient intracellular delivery of large gene-editing cargo such as piggyBac transposon. Encapsulation and release: Optimal polymer/plasmid molar ratio = 0.36. Unmodified PEG-PDHA NPs released essentially all PBCAG within 2 h. Layer-by-layer NPs showed no detectable release within 24 h but transfection was.
Cervical cancer is immunologically relevant because retained high-risk HPV antigens can be recognized as foreign, making immunotherapy attractive. However, conventional immunotherapy is limited by variable efficacy, immune evasion, cytokine toxicity, and poor targeting. Nanomedicine may improve delivery, targeting, pharmacokinetics, and safety of immunotherapeutic agents. Pembrolizumab showed increased activity in cervical cancer in KEYNOTE-158 and promising antitumor activity in phase Ib KEYNOTE-028. - Nivolumab in phase II NRG-GY002: minimal response rate, median survival 14.5 months,.
Nucleic acid vaccines (DNA and mRNA) offer rapid design, adaptability to changing pathogen strains, and stimulation of both humoral and cellular immunity, but their clinical translation is limited by inefficient delivery—nucleic acids are rapidly degraded by endogenous nucleases, have poor cellular uptake due to their negative charge, and must cross cellular barriers (cytoplasm for mRNA, nucleus for DNA). Nanoparticles (NPs) are promising. mRNA-1273 (Moderna): phase III trial with 30,000+ participants showed 95% efficacy in preventing COVID-19; phase I showed dose-dependent antibody responses (day 57 GMT: 299,751, 782,719, and 1,192,154 for 25, 100, and.
mRNA has therapeutic potential for vaccines, protein replacement, cancer immunotherapy, cellular reprogramming, and genome editing, but it requires safe, effective, and stable delivery systems to protect it from degradation and enable cellular uptake and mRNA release. Lipid nanoparticles have entered the clinic for mRNA delivery, most notably in COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. COVID-19 mRNA vaccines mRNA-1273 and BNT162b2 showed ~95% efficacy in phase III trials and use ionizable LNPs (SM-102 and ALC-0315, respectively). - Influenza mRNA-1440: 100 µg dose induced 78.3% HAI and 87.0% MN.
Matthew R. Aronson, Scott H. Medina, Michael J. Mitchell
Most clinically approved cancer therapies are potent and toxic small molecules limited by severe off-target toxicities and poor tumor-specific localization. Liposomal encapsulation reduces toxicity, but reliance on passive targeting via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect leaves unresolved issues such as heterogeneous tumor accumulation. Peptide-functionalized liposomes offer an active targeting strategy for receptor-mediated. TfR-targeting T7: D-enantiomer T7 showed increased binding affinity over L-T7 and transferrin; T7-liposomes loaded with docetaxel significantly reduced tumor growth in mice. T7-quercetin liposomes increased cytotoxicity.
Small-sized lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are attractive for tissue penetration but often lose potency because lipid components diffuse out and serum proteins adsorb onto poorly packed surfaces. The study asked how the hydrophobic scaffold structure of pH-sensitive cationic lipids affects small-LNP stability, lipid miscibility, endosomal escape, and siRNA delivery. CL15H6-LNPs with 3 mol% PEG-DMG induced clear gene silencing (IC₅₀ ≈ 20 nM siRNA), whereas CL15A6-LNPs failed; cellular uptake of CL15H6-LNPs was about 2-fold higher. - Replacing cholesterol with ESM produced smaller.
Yana Tarakanchikova, Albert Muslimov, Igor Sergeev, Kirill Lepik, Nikita Yolshin, Alexander Goncharenko, Kirill Vasilyev, Igor Eliseev, Anton Bukatin, Vladislav Sergeev, Sergey Pavlov, Alexey Popov, Igor Meglinski, Boris Afanasyev, Bogdan Parakhonskiy, Gleb Sukhorukov, Dmitry Gorin
DNA- and mRNA-based therapies are transforming biomedicine, but intracellular delivery—especially to hard-to-transfect, clinically relevant cells such as primary human T lymphocytes—remains a major barrier. Existing non-viral methods often suffer from low transfection efficiency, high toxicity, or complex manufacturing requirements. A safe, efficient, serum-compatible non-viral platform is needed. Particle size: Core–shell nanoparticles ~50–100 nm; vaterite templates 50–150 nm. - Encapsulation efficiency: ~98% for mRNA; >95% for pDNA. - Uptake: Up to ~99% of primary human T lymphocytes internalized nanoparticles;.
Siddharth Patel, N. Ashwanikumar, Ema Robinson, Yan Xia, Cosmin Mihai, Joseph P. Griffith Iii, Shangguo Hou, Adam A. Esposito, Tatiana Ketova, Kevin Welsher, John L. Joyal, Örn Almarsson, Gaurav Sahay
Endosomal sequestration of lipid-based nanoparticles (LNPs) remains a formidable barrier to delivery, with only <2% of LNPs reaching the cytosol. The role of cholesterol structure in LNP-mediated mRNA delivery and endosomal escape was poorly understood. There is a need to decode the structural characteristics of cholesterol that are crucial for efficient intracellular delivery and improved gene transfection. Screening: β-sitosterol LNPs (eLNPs) showed up to 211-fold improvement in transfection vs cholesterol LNPs, with comparable size (~100 nm) and encapsulation (>90%). Group I (Vitamin D analogs) and Group III (5th ring.
John Choi, Yuan Rui, Jayoung Kim, Noah Gorelick, David R. Wilson, Kristen Kozielski, Antonella Mangraviti, Eric Sankey, Henry Brem, Betty Tyler, Jordan J. Green, Eric M. Jackson
Medulloblastoma (MB) and atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) are common pediatric brain malignancies. Radiation carries high risks of developmental sequelae in young children, and current treatments remain inadequate. Viral gene therapy has safety concerns in pediatric patients, so a safe, effective nonviral polymeric nanoparticle system is needed for gene delivery to pediatric CNS tumors. Transfection: Several PBAE formulations achieved >50% transfection in both BT-12 and D425 cells with low cytotoxicity. Optimized formulations significantly outperformed 25 kDa PEI and Lipofectamine 3000. - Uptake: 447.
Folic acid (FA)-mediated active targeting improves nanocarrier tumor specificity but exposes targeting ligands to the immune system, causing rapid clearance and nonspecific uptake. Existing acid-labile benzoic-imine PEG sheddable systems are insufficiently stable at physiological pH. A more stable, tumor-triggered sheddable PEG stealth is needed to protect FA in circulation and expose it at tumor sites while also promoting intracellular drug. P1 micelles: \(D_h\) = 41 nm, narrow size distribution; stable at pH 7.4. - pH-triggered destabilization: At pH 6.5, size increased from 41 nm to 80 nm after 24 h; at pH 5.0, size increased to 627 nm. -.
Serkan Yaman, Harish Ramachandramoorthy, Gizem Oter, Daria Zhukova, Tam Nguyen, Manoj K. Sabnani, Jon A. Weidanz, Kytai T. Nguyen
Melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer with limited treatment efficacy due to non-specific drug targeting, severe side effects, and multidrug resistance. Current cell-based immunotherapies are costly, complex, and carry long-term autoimmune risks. There is a need for a targeted, biocompatible drug delivery system that selectively recognizes melanoma cells and provides sustained drug release. Physicochemical properties: T-MNPs (1:2) were 193 ± 56 nm, PDI 0.265, zeta −36 mV; stable in saline for 48 h. Drug loading 61%; sustained trametinib release over 28 days, slowest at highest membrane ratio (1:2). - TCR.
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (as indicated in the file header; exact volume/pages and DOI were not included in2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
Denis Routkevitch, Deepti Sudhakar, Marranne Conge, Mahita Varanasi, Stephany Y. Tzeng, David R. Wilson, Jordan J. Green
The mechanism by which cationic polymers with titratable amines mediate endosomal escape and cytosolic delivery of nucleic acids remains poorly understood. Buffering capacity alone has often failed to predict transfection efficacy, so this study examines whether the effective pKa of poly(beta-amino ester)s (PBAEs) governs cytosolic delivery and transfection. Transfection efficacy: PBAEs achieved up to 99% in HEK293T, 65% in B16-F10, and 90% in GB319 cells, with high viability. - Effective pKa: PBAE 746 = 6.16, PBAE 446 = 6.95, PBAE 447 = 7.15. PEI showed broad buffering.
Drug penetration into tumors is limited by abnormal vasculature and high interstitial pressure, and chemotherapy causes undesirable adverse effects including bone marrow and gastrointestinal toxicity. Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems aim to reduce these adverse effects by enhancing penetration and selective drug retention in tumor tissues. A thorough knowledge of the physical properties (size, surface charge, shape, mechanical. 15 nm AuNPs showed highest accumulation in organs (liver, lung, spleen, kidney); only 15 and 50 nm AuNPs crossed the blood-brain barrier. - Renal clearance is rapid for particles <5–6 nm; clearance by liver and spleen.
Janusz Khetan, Madhan Srikar, Daniel B. Forger, Sutapa Barua
The general perception is that cellular uptake of materials is proportional to cell volume (mass) or surface area, following cubic or square relationships with cell radius. However, experimental data on nanoparticle uptake in MDA-MB 231 breast cancer cells show a linear relationship with cell radius—a result that is counterintuitive. A quantitative modeling framework is needed to explain this unexpected correlation and to understand how cell. ### MDA-MB 231 Cell Size Distribution | Parameter | Value | |---------------|-----------| | Mean cell radius (FSC, uncorrected) | ~11 μm | | Mean cell radius (microscopy, corrected) | ~8 μm | | Distribution (σc) | 0.20.
Protein corona formation in biological fluids can alter nanoparticle cellular uptake, transfection, and gene silencing, but the relationship between LNP surface chemistry and corona-mediated delivery is incompletely understood. This study examined how PEG lipid chain length and PEG molar ratio affect protein corona composition and siRNA delivery in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. All four LNPs had similar size (~90 nm), PDI (<0.1), and encapsulation efficiency (>90%); zeta potential was near neutral. - Surface PEG molar ratio by ¹H NMR was approximately 1.9:1.0:2.0:1.0 for F1:F2:F3:F4, matching.
