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Papers, explained in our own words

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.

706 articles

Showing 1–24 of 36 articles · Keyword: Endosomal escape Clear keyword

Current gene therapy2026ResearchNon-viral Gene DeliveryDrug Delivery

1. Nanoparticle-Mediated Delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 Rnps Into Cells

Rajeshwar V, Kumar Kr, Kumar Gr, Roja P, Mohan Vk, Aparna Tn

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPRassociated protein 9 (Cas9) system has revolutionized genome editing through its precision, simplicity, and programmability. The clinical translation of CRISPR/Cas9 Ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) remains constrained by major delivery challenges…

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ACS nanoscience Au2026ResearchNon-viral Gene DeliveryDrug Delivery

2. Lipid Nanoparticles at the Crossroads of Chemistry and Medicine: A Tutorial

Rogado Mt, Wang A, Zeng S, Wang Z, Burda C

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have risen to the forefront of modern therapeutics by enabling the clinical success of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. In order for them to function as drug delivery vesicles, LNPs must have scalable, tunable, and targeted nanoscale platforms whose strengths in versatility, performance, and…

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ACS nano2026ResearchNon-viral Gene DeliveryDrug Delivery

3. Lipid Nanoparticle Surface Engineering with Heparosan Polysaccharides Enhances mRNA Efficacy via Reduced Endosomal Retention

He Y, Wang L, Williams Ap, Valerio Ti, Sun Y, Bowman J, Et Al.

In this study, we developed a library of mRNA lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) containing clinically used ionizable lipids. We surface-modified these nanoparticles with heparosan polysaccharides and systematically compared their performance with conventional poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-modified formulations. Our heparosan…

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Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society2026ResearchNon-viral Gene DeliveryDrug Delivery

4. Lung surfactants as a component of lipid nanoparticles for pulmonary mRNA delivery

Nasr Ss, Tabah Oe, Kumar S, Poore S, Duncan Ga

Pulmonary delivery of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) remains an area of significant interest, given the broad range of genetic disorders that could be addressed through localized administration of therapeutic nucleic acids to the lung. In this study, we investigated how incorporation of the clinically used lung…

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Advanced Science2023ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

5. Lipid Nanoparticle Delivery System for mRNA Encoding B7H3-redirected Bispecific Antibody Displays Potent Antitumor Effects on Malignant Tumors

Cheng Huang, Xing Duan, Jichao Wang, Qingqing Tian, Yangmei Ren, Kepan Chen, Zongliang Zhang, Yuanyou Li, Yunyu Feng, Kunhong Zhong, Yuelong Wang, Liangxue Zhou, Gang Guo, Xiangrong Song, And Aiping Tong

Bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs) are promising but require large amounts of purified protein, have high manufacturing costs, poor in vivo stability, and short serum half-lives. mRNA delivery could enable continuous endogenous production of BiTEs, but efficient and safe delivery systems are needed. The study…

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Journal of Controlled Release 349 (2022ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

6. Engineered ionizable lipid siRNA conjugates enhance endosomal escape but induce toxicity in vivo

Annabelle Biscans, Socheata Ly, Nicholas Mchugh, David A. Cooper, Anastasia Khvorova

Lipid-conjugated siRNAs can reach extrahepatic tissues, but silencing efficacy remains lower than in liver largely because only ~1–2% of internalised siRNA escapes endosomes into the cytoplasm. Ionisable lipids enhance endosomal escape in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), but direct covalent conjugation of an ionisable…

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Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS)2021ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

7. One-Component Multifunctional Sequence-Defined Ionizable Amphiphilic Janus Dendrimer Delivery Systems for mRNA

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 ionisable lipid as droplets in the LNP core, reducing transfection efficiency to ~1-2%; (2) the "PEG dilemma" where PEGylation increases circulation…

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Advanced Science (Weinh.)2021ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

8. Photocrosslinked Bioreducible Polymeric Nanoparticles for Enhanced Systemic siRNA Delivery as Cancer Therapy

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…

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International Journal of Polymeric Materials and Polymeric Biomaterials2021ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

9. Development of a nontoxic and efficient gene delivery vector based on histidine grafted chitosan

Liu T, Lin M, Wu F, Lin A, Luo D, Zhang Z

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…

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Acta Biomaterialia2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

10. Hydrophobic scaffolds of pH-sensitive cationic lipids contribute to miscibility with phospholipids and improve the efficiency of delivering short interfering RNA by small-sized lipid nanoparticles

Yusuke Sato, Nana Okabe, Yusuke Note, Kazuki Hashiba, Masatoshi Maeki, Manabu Tokeshi, Hideyoshi Harashima

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…

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Nature Communications2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

11. Naturally-Occurring Cholesterol Analogues in Lipid Nanoparticles Induce Polymorphic Shape and Enhance Intracellular Delivery of mRNA

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…

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International Journal of Nanomedicine2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

12. Self-Assembled Nanoparticles Prepared from Low-Molecular-Weight PEI and Low-Generation PAMAM for EGFRvIII-Chimeric Antigen Receptor Gene Loading and T-Cell Transient Modification

CAR-T cell therapy is limited by complex manufacturing, viral vector use, high cost, and severe toxicities. A nonviral, transient CAR modification approach using self-assembled nanoparticles could provide a simpler, safer, and potentially broadly applicable alternative for T-cell engineering. Formulation screening…

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ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (as indicated in the supplied file header; exact volume/pages and DOI were not in2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

13. Efficiency of Cytosolic Delivery with Poly(beta-amino ester) Nanoparticles is Dependent on the Effective pKa of the Polymer

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 the study examines whether the effective pKa of poly(beta-amino ester)s (PBAEs)…

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ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (as indicated in the file header; exact volume/pages and DOI were not included in2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

14. Efficiency of Cytosolic Delivery with Poly(beta-amino ester)

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)…

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Journal of Controlled Release2019ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

15. Understanding structure-activity relationships of pH-sensitive cationic lipids facilitates the rational identification of promising lipid nanoparticles for delivering siRNAs in vivo

Yusuke Sato, Kazuki Hashiba, Kosuke Sasaki, Masatoshi Maeki, Manabu Tokeshi, Hideyoshi Harashima

Endosomal escape remains a major rate-limiting step for siRNA delivery. The structure–activity relationships (SAR) of pH-sensitive cationic lipids were incompletely understood, limiting rational design of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for efficient in vivo siRNA delivery to hepatocytes. Hydrophilic head group structure…

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Biomaterials Science2019ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

16. Identifying Key Barriers in Cationic Polymer Gene Delivery to Human T Cells

Brynn R. Olden, Emmeline Cheng, Yilong Cheng, Suzie H. Pun

T cells are an important target for ex vivo gene delivery and editing, but most commercial reagents cannot transfect them and cationic polymers show only moderate success. The specific intracellular barriers limiting non-viral gene delivery to human T cells are poorly understood, hindering rational polymer design…

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Nano Letters2019ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

17. Quantitating Endosomal Escape of a Library of Polymers for mRNA Delivery

Yuhang Jiang, Qiao Lu, Yongheng Wang, Emily Xu, Alison Ho, Priya Singh, Yifei Wang, Zhaozhong Jiang, Fan Yang, Gregory T. Tietjen, Peter Cresswell, W. Mark Saltzman

Endosomal escape is a key but poorly quantified step for intracellular nucleic acid delivery. Existing methods are low-throughput, indirect, or fail to distinguish endosomal disruption from actual cytosolic cargo delivery. A reliable, sensitive method is needed to rationally optimise polymeric mRNA delivery vehicles…

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Pharmaceutical Research2018ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

18. pH-Promoted Release of a Novel Anti-Tumour Peptide by “Stealth” Liposomes Effect of Nanocarriers on the Drug Activity in Cis-Platinum Resistant Cancer Cells

Francesca Sacchetti, Gaetano Marverti, Domenico D’arca, Leda Severi, Eleonora Maretti, Valentina Iannuccelli, Salvatore Pacifico, Glauco Ponterini, Maria Paola Costi, Eliana Leo

PEGylated pH-sensitive liposomes may improve delivery of anti-cancer peptides, but PEGylation can reduce cellular uptake and endosomal escape (“PEG dilemma”), and it was unknown whether PEGylated liposome components interfere with the intracellular mechanism of action of the delivered drug. Physicochemical…

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ACS Applied Bio Materials (Just Accepted Manuscript)2018ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

19. Conjugated Polymer Brush Based on Poly(L-lysine) with Efficient Ovalbumin Delivery for Dendritic Cell Vaccine

Chao Wang, Pengfei Sun, Gaina Wang, Pengcheng Yuan, Rongcui Jiang, Wenjun Wang, Wei Huang, Quli Fan

Dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccines require efficient antigen delivery, but free ovalbumin (OVA) is poorly taken up by DCs and is often degraded, sequestered, or exocytosed. Existing OVA delivery systems often suffer from low loading capacity (<10%), lack of imaging ability, or chemical modification that can impair…

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Materials Science and Engineering C2016ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

20. Gene delivery efficiency and cytotoxicity of heterocyclic amine-modified PAMAM and PPI dendrimers

Maryam Hashemi, Seyed Meghdad Tabatabai, Hamideh Parhiz, Soroush Milanizadeh, Sara Amel Farzad, Khalil Abnous, Mohammad Ramezani

PAMAM and PPI dendrimers are widely investigated for gene delivery but suffer from limitations including cytotoxicity and inefficient endosomal escape. While both employ the proton sponge mechanism for endosomal release, higher generations that improve transfection also increase cytotoxicity. A systematic comparison…

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Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology2016ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

21. Targeted Delivery of MicroRNA125a-5p by Engineered Lipid Nanoparticles for the Treatment of HER2 Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer

Stephen L. Hayward, David M. Francis, Parviz Kholmatov, Srivatsan Kidambi

miRNA-based therapeutics are limited by instability, poor cellular uptake, lack of targeting, and potential immune activation. No nonviral miRNA delivery strategy had been explored as a standalone treatment for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. HA-LNP uptake was significantly higher than naked FITC-dextran and…

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Biomacromolecules2016ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

22. Highly Branched Poly(#-amino esters) for Non-Viral Gene Delivery High Transfection Efficiency and Low Toxicity Achieved by Increasing Molecular Weight

Yongsheng Gao, Jian-Yuan Huang, Jonathan O’keeffe Ahern, Lara Cutlar, Dezhong Zhou, Feng‐huei Lin, Wenxin Wang

Nonviral gene delivery vectors suffer from an “efficacy–toxicity paradox”: high transfection efficiency usually comes with high cytotoxicity, while low-toxicity vectors often transfect poorly. For cationic polymers such as PEI, PAMAM, and PDMAEMA, increasing molecular weight typically improves transfection but also…

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Journal of Controlled Release 200 (2015ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

23. A neutral lipid envelope-type nanoparticle composed of a pH-activated and vitamin E-scaffold lipid-like material as a platform for a gene carrier targeting renal cell carcinoma

H. Akita Et Al.

Cationic gene carriers can mediate cellular uptake but often show poor post-nuclear transcription/translation, toxicity, and aggregation in blood. The study aimed to develop a systemically applicable, tumour-targeting gene carrier that is neutral in blood/cytosol but becomes cationic in endosomes for endosomal…

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Polymers for Advanced Technologies (Polym. Adv. Technol.)2014ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery

24. Bioreducible Polyspermine as Less Toxic and Efficient Gene Carrier

Hongsuk Park, Joseph W. Nichols, Han Chang Kang, You Han Bae

Bioreducible polymers are attractive as gene carriers because they can reduce cytotoxicity compared with non-degradable cationic polymers such as polyethyleneimine (PEI). However, the safety and transfection efficiency of spermine-based bioreducible polyspermines had not been directly compared with linear PEI (lPEI)…

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