ACS nanoscience Au2026ResearchNon-viral Gene DeliveryDrug Delivery
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…
Read the article →Nature Communications 14, 345 (2023ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →Science Advances2022ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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 tumour 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…
Read the article →Accounts of Chemical Research2022ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →International Journal of Nanomedicine2022ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS)2021ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →Biotechnology and Bioengineering (accepted manuscript)2021ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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; optimised conditions in X-VIVO…
Read the article →Advanced Science (Weinh.)2021ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →International Journal of Polymeric Materials and Polymeric Biomaterials2021ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →Bioengineering2021ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
Vitor Francisco, Catarina Rebelo, Artur Filipe Rodrigues, Josephine Blersch, Hugo Fernandes, Lino Ferreira
Non-viral vectors such as nanoparticles (NPs) show promise for RNA-based therapies, but suffer from limited cell targeting, poor cellular internalisation, and inadequate endolysosomal escape capacity. The field lacks a systematic, high-throughput approach to identify effective polymeric nanocarriers that can deliver…
Read the article →Acta Biomaterialia2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →Journal of Materials Chemistry B2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →Nature Communications2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →Nanomedicine2020ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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 tumour (AT/RT) are common paediatric brain malignancies. Radiation carries high risks of developmental sequelae in young children, and current treatments remain inadequate. Viral gene therapy has safety concerns in paediatric patients, so a safe, effective nonviral…
Read the article →Polymer Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry)2020ResearchDrug Delivery
Lu Sun, Hua Wei, Xiaoshuo Zhang, Chao Meng, Guiying Kang, Wei Ma, Liwei Ma, Baoyan Wang, Cuiyun Yu
Folic acid (FA)-mediated active targeting improves nanocarrier tumour 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, tumour-triggered…
Read the article →Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology2020ResearchDrug Delivery
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…
Read the article →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)…
Read the article →Biophysical Journal2019ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
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…
Read the article →Nanoscale2019ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
Dongyu Chen, Shanthi Ganesh, Weimin Wang, Mansoor Amiji
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…
Read the article →Nature Communications2019ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
Francesca Giulimondi, Luca Digiacomo, Daniela Pozzi, Sara Palchetti, Elisabetta Vulpis, Anna Laura Capriotti, Riccardo Zenezini Chiozzi, Aldo Laganà, Heinz Amenitsch, Laura Masuelli, Giovanna Peruzzi, Morteza Mahmoudi, Isabella Screpanti, Alessandra Zingoni
Liposome clinical translation is limited by opsonisation and rapid clearance by immune cells. Although the protein corona is recognised as the liposome’s “biological identity,” it was unclear whether pre-adsorbed corona proteins could help liposomes avoid capture by circulating leukocytes in whole blood and thereby…
Read the article →Nano Letters2019ResearchNon-viral Gene 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…
Read the article →Molecular Pharmaceutics2019ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
Wilson, D. R., Rui, Y., Siddiq, K., Routkevitch, D., & Green, J. J. (2019).
Nonviral gene delivery remains limited by low transfection efficacy, especially under physiological serum conditions and at low nanoparticle doses. Although linear poly(β-amino ester)s (PBAEs) are effective, branching structure had not been systematically evaluated in well-defined PBAE-like poly(ester amine) systems…
Read the article →International Journal of Pharmaceutics (inferred; the supplied PDF is marked “2019ResearchNon-viral Gene Delivery
Yingqi Xu, Dingxin Liu, Jie Hu, Peirong Ding, Meiwan Chen
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) lacks effective targeted therapy. Nonviral co-delivery of an anticancer drug and a therapeutic gene may improve treatment, but efficient tumour-targeted co-delivery remains challenging. TRAIL has shown limited clinical benefit alone, and embelin (EMB) can inhibit XIAP to promote…
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