1 research outputs found
Multicomponent Synthetic Polymers with Viral-Mimetic Chemistry for Nucleic Acid Delivery
The ability to deliver genetic material for therapy remains
an
unsolved challenge in medicine. Natural gene carriers, such as viruses,
have evolved sophisticated mechanisms and modular biopolymer architectures
to overcome these hurdles. Here we describe synthetic multicomponent
materials for gene delivery, designed with features that mimic virus
modular components and which transfect specific cell lines with high
efficacy. The hierarchical nature of the synthetic carriers allows
the incorporation of membrane-disrupting peptides, nucleic acid binding
components, a protective coat layer, and an outer targeting ligand
all in a single nanoparticle, but with functionality such that each
is utilized in a specific sequence during the gene delivery process.
The experimentally facile assembly suggests these materials could
form a generic class of carrier systems that could be customized for
many different therapeutic settings