Hyperbranched Polyamines for Transfection

Abstract

The successful application of gene therapy through DNA transfection into the cell is still a great challenge in ongoing research. Hyperbranched polyamines are highly branched macromolecules, and have gained significant attention in the last two decades, due to their relative ease of preparation, their shape, and their multi-functionality.This review deals with the syntheses of various hyperbranched polyamines that are prepared through a one-step polymerization process. Furthermore, we present the current status of polyamines as gene carriers and describe their versatility, and their properties such as structure-property dependency, gene transfection efficiency, and cytotoxicity profiles of hyperbranched polyamines.

siRNA transfection by dendritic core–shell nanocarriers

“…[120] Hyperbranched polymers are highly branched molecules composed of dendritic (D), linear (L), and terminal units (T) that represent a compromise between the perfect structures of dendrimers and the partially degraded architectures. [24] Instead of the tedious step-wise synthesis of perfect dendrimers, hyperbranched polymers are prepared in a one-step synthetic strategy. [188] Due to their similar physicochemical Germany) as in vitro transfections agents.…”

“…[22][23] The successful application of gene therapy is still a great challenge in ongoing research, since the most difficult obstacles to overcome have been the inability to transfer the 1 Introduction appropriate gene to a target, prolonged gene expression, and to obtain low toxicity. [24][25] Gene transfer of a nucleic acid to somatic cells can take place either in vivo or ex vivo and the process by which genes are transferred into cultured mammalian cells is called transfection. [26] In vivo therapy is accomplished by transfer of genetic materials directly to the patient, whereas in the ex vivo approach, the therapeutic genes are removed from the patient"s body, genetically modified in vitro, and finally retransplanted (Figure 3).…”

“…[285] In the past decade several approaches to deliver DNA/ siRNA into the cell have been developed. [1,16,24,64,161,169,[286][287][288] In general, effective carriers systems require the ability to compact the nucleic acid into particles of virus-like dimensions for cellular internalization, the protection from both extracellular and intracellular nuclease degradation, and finally the intracellular controlled release of the siRNA or DNA-complex. [113] The colloidal surface and the physicochemical characteristics of DNA/siRNA polyplexes, such as size, charge, hydrophobicity, and buffering capacity, are responsible for controlling the extent and rate of delivery of genes to cells, [289] whereas the efficient release of the gene depends on the characteristics of the transfection vehicles itself.…”

Receptor Mediated Cellular Uptake of Low Molecular Weight Dendritic Polyglycerols

“…This has already shown advantageous properties, for instance, in gene delivery applications. 10 Copyright: American Scientific Publishers widened the possibility for cellular and tissue targetability because they allow an increase of the particle dimensions to more than 10 nm, the size limit presently achievable by perfect dendrimers. The great versatility of the dendritic polymers synthesis allows to fine tune physico-chemical parameters such as particle size, water solubility, surface charge, flexibility, branching density, chemical functionality, etc., which are relevant for the successful preparation of drug delivery systems.…”

p-tert-Butyl Thiacalix[4]arene Derivatives Functionalized in the Lower Rim with Bis(3-aminopropyl)amine: Synthesis and Interaction with DNA

“…Among such potential molecules, those which can further compact DNA molecules into nanosized particles following molecular recognition can aid transport of DNA into the cells. [1,2] Molecular recognition of the nucleotides by natural polyamines, [3,4] synthetic macrocyclic polyamine receptors, [5][6][7][8][9] polyamine polymers [10,11] and dendrimers [12,13] has been demonstrated. It was shown that the efficiency of the cell transfection and cytotoxicity positively correlate with the ratio of amino groups in receptor molecule to the number of phosphate groups in the DNA molecule (N/P).…”