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Nanoparticle delivery system guides design of gene delivery to liver
(Vaccine Weekly)
2005 NOV 30 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists have developed a nanoparticle-based model delivery system to guide the rational design of gene delivery to the liver.
According to a study from the United States, "Nonviral gene delivery systems are amenable to forming colloidal particles with a wide range of physicochemical properties that include size, surface charge, and density and type of ligand presented. However, it is not known how to best design these particles without having a set of physicochemical design constraints that have been optimized for the intended gene delivery application."
"Here, a nanoparticle-based model delivery system is developed that can mimic the surface properties of nonviral gene delivery particles, and this model system is used to define design constraints that should be applied to next generation gene delivery particles," said Stephen R. Popielarski and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology. "As a test case, a well-defined nanoparticle-based system is developed to guide the rational design of gene delivery to hepatocytes in the liver."
"The synthetic scheme utilizes monodisperse polystyrene particles and provides for variation of mean particle size and particle size distribution through variation in reaction conditions," explained Popielarski and his collaborators. "The nanoparticles are PEGylated to provide stability in serum and also incorporate targeting ligands, e.g., galactose, at tunable densities. Four nanoparticles are synthesized from uniformly sized polystyrene beads specifically for the purpose of identifying design constraints to guide next generation gene delivery to the liver."
The investigators noted, "These four nanoparticles are Gal-50 and Gal-140, that are galactosylated 50 and 140 nm nanoparticles, and MeO-50 and MeO-140, that are methoxy-terminated 50- and 140-nm nanoparticles. All four particles have the same surface charge, and Gal-50 and Gal-140 have the same surface galactose density. The availability of galactose ligands to receptor binding is demonstrated here by agglutination with RCA120."
Popielarski and his coauthors published their study in Bioconjugate Chemistry (A nanoparticle-based model delivery system to guide the rational design of gene delivery to the liver. 1. Synthesis and characterization. Bioconjug Chem, 2005;16(5):1063-1070).
For more information, contact Mark E. Davis, Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. E-mail: mdavis@cheme.caltech.edu.
Publisher contact information for the journal Bioconjugate Chemistry is: American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA.
Keywords: Pasadena, California, United States, Vaccine Delivery, Vaccine Development, DNA Vaccine, Nanotechnology, Nanoparticle, Gene Delivery, Gene Therapy, Immunology, Immunotherapy, Hepatology.
This article was prepared by Vaccine Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2005, Vaccine Weekly via NewsRx.com.
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