Hydrophobic drug candidates require innovative
formulation agents. We designed and synthesized lipidDNA polymers containing varying numbers of hydrophobic alkyl chains. The hydrophobicity of these amphiphiles
is easily tunable by introducing a defined number of alkyl
chain-modified nucleotides during standard solid-phase
synthesis of DNA using an automated DNA synthesizer.
We observed that the resulting self-assembled micelles
solubilize the poorly water-soluble drug, meta-tetra-hydroxyphenyl-chlorin (mTHPC) used in photodynamic therapy (PDT) with high loading concentrations and loading
capacities. A cell viability study showed that mTHPCloaded micelles exhibit good biocompatibility without irradiation, and high PDT efficacy upon irradiation. LipidDNAs provide a novel class of drug-delivery vehicle, and
hybridization of DNA offers a potentially facile route for
further functionalization of the drug-delivery system with,
for instance, targeting or imaging moieties
