Biophysical properties and supramolecular structure of self-assembled liposome/ε-peptide/DNA nanoparticles : correlation with gene delivery

Using solid-phase synthesis, lysine can be oligomerized by a reaction of the peptide carboxylate with the ε-amino group to produce nontoxic, biodegradable cationic peptides, ε-oligo(l-lysines). Here α-substituted derivatives of such ε-oligo(l-lysines) containing arginine and histidine in the side ch...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yan, Jiang, Korolev, Nikolay, Eom, Khee Dong, Nordenskiöld, Lars, Tam, James P.
Other Authors: School of Biological Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/99003
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/12751
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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Summary:Using solid-phase synthesis, lysine can be oligomerized by a reaction of the peptide carboxylate with the ε-amino group to produce nontoxic, biodegradable cationic peptides, ε-oligo(l-lysines). Here α-substituted derivatives of such ε-oligo(l-lysines) containing arginine and histidine in the side chain were tested as vectors for in vitro gene delivery. Combination of ε-oligolysines with the cationic lipid DOTAP and plasmid DNA resulted in transfection efficiency exceeding that of DOTAP alone, without significant increase in cytotoxicity. Synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering studies revealed self-assembly of the DOTAP, ε-oligolysines, and DNA to ordered lamellar complexes. High transfection efficiency of the nanoparticles correlates with increase in zeta potential above +20 mV and requires particle size to be below 500 nm. The synergistic effect of branched ε-oligolysines and DOTAP in gene delivery can be explained by the increase in surface charge and by the supramolecular structure of the DOTAP/ε-oligolysine/DNA nanoparticles.