Gene Delivery with Organic Electronic Biomaterials

Abstract

Gene therapy may be capable of treating a variety of diseases, a prerequisite of which is the successful delivery of polynucleic acids (e.g., DNA, RNA) to a patient's cells. Delivery can be achieved technologically (e.g., using electroporation), using viruses (natural gene delivery vectors) or non-viral vectors (e.g., lipids, nanoparticles, polymers). This article aims to give the reader an overview of the use of organic electronic materials (i.e., fullerenes, graphenes and conjugated polymers) as non-viral gene delivery vectors.

Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Tissue Engineering and Drug Delivery

“…They respond to changes in the electrical field to which they are exposed and are expected to support the contraction-relaxation episodes of these kinds of tissues which could cause hydrogel disruption. They are promising materials in the biomedical field to regenerate damaged tissues as the employment of electrical signals, which are the main physical stimuli present in the human body, can modulate cell proliferation and differentiation [25,182] and potentially also deliver drugs in a controlled way [183,184].…”

Shedding light on gene therapy: Carbon dots for the minimally invasive image-guided delivery of plasmids and noncoding RNAs - A review

“…Because of their favourable properties, including ease of production and chemical characterization, large packaging capacity, lack of immunogenicity, and potential for tissue specificity, nanoparticles (NPs) have received significant attention as non-viral gene transfer vectors, providing an alternative to the popular viral vectors. Many types of nanomaterials, such as polymeric NPs [3], [4], noble/transition metal-based NPs, carbon nanomaterials, and biological nanostructures, have been investigated as non-viral nucleic acid nanocarriers [5], [6], [7], [8], [9]. Because many nanovectors that transfect cells in vitro fail to function or have high toxicity in vivo , the gene delivery efficiency of the non-viral methods remains a key barrier to clinical use [10].…”

Electrochemically Enhanced Drug Delivery Using Polypyrrole Films

“…Various types of OEMs exist, including fullerenes (bucky balls or nanotubes), graphene/graphene oxide, or conjugated polymers (e.g., polyaniline, polypyrrole, or polythiophene). Some OEMs are commercially available, and their properties can be tailored (through chemical modification or the generation of composites) to suit the delivery of various drugs [ 16 , 17 ].…”

“…Mismatches can potentially be diminished by coating the surface of the metals with relatively soft OEM-based materials [ 24 ], or indeed, the delivery of anti-inflammatories from OEM-based materials [ 25 ]. Moreover, it is noteworthy that the surgical procedures necessary to implant such devices are complex, and problems associated with microbial infections in the proximity of these devices can potentially be addressed through the delivery of antimicrobials [ 16 , 17 , 25 , 26 ].…”

“…There is academic and industrial interest in their potential application in the biomedical industry for use as bioactuators, biosensors, drug-delivery devices, neural electrode coatings, or indeed, tissue scaffolds for tissue engineering [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 31 ]. Polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polythiophene derivatives are most commonly investigated for biomedical applications, and polyaniline- and polypyrrole-based systems were shown to be capable of delivery of a variety of drugs (including anions and, less frequently, cations) [ 16 , 17 , 25 , 26 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”