PAMAM-PEG-PAMAM: Novel Triblock Copolymer as a Biocompatible and Efficient Gene Delivery Carrier

Abstract

A novel triblock copolymer, PAMAM-block-PEG-block-PAMAM was synthesized and applied as a gene carrier. PAMAM dendrimer is proven to be an efficient gene carrier itself, but it is associated with certain problems such as low water solubility and considerable cytotoxicity. Therefore, we introduced PEG to engineer a nontoxic and highly transfection efficient polymeric gene carrier because PEG is known to convey water-solubility and biocompatibility to the conjugated copolymer. This copolymer could achieve self-assembly with plasmid DNA, forming compact nanosized particles with a narrow size distribution. Fulfilling our expectations, the copolymer was found to form highly water-soluble polyplexes with plasmid DNA, showed little cytotoxicity despite its poor degradability, and finally achieved high transfection efficiency comparable to PEI in 293 cells. Consequently, these data show that an approach involving the introduction of PEG to create a tree-like cationic copolymer possesses a great potential for use in gene delivery systems.

Synthesis of a novel PEGDGA-coated hPAMAM complex as an efficient and biocompatible gene delivery vector: an in vitro and in vivo study

“…Some recent studies have optimized dendrimer surface groups with various agents, such as PEG, cyclodextrin and Larginine, indicating that significant advances had been achieved over recent years (Roessler et al, 2001;Choi et al, 2004b;Kim et al, 2004). Using direct administration into the body (in vivo) or transformation (ex vivo), gene therapy strategies can be successfully applied to a variety of solid tumors for various purposes, including cell growth control, allergy medication, tumor immunity induction and angiogenesis inhibition (Crystal, 1995;Kommareddy & Amiji, 2007).…”

An Alternative Approach for Acetylation of Amine Terminated Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) Dendrimer

“…Utilization of dendrimers for drug delivery applications while reducing their cytotoxicity is the area were scientist are working actively. Plethora of strategies are used to minimize the cytotoxicity of dendrimers [10][11][12][13] . Neutralizing charges by amine acetylation enhances the transfection efficiency of plasmid DNA 9,14 .…”

Dendrimers Clicked Together Divergently

“…The ability to tune the properties of dendrimers [1][2][3][4][5] has allowed their development for use in diverse applications, including drug delivery, [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] biomimicry, 8,9,[16][17][18][19] catalysis, 15,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26] organic light emitting diodes, 15,21,[27][28][29] molecular wires, 30,31 sensors, [32][33][34][35] imaging agents, 7,9 and various other utilities. 15,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42] Coincident with these developments is the increasing nee...…”