Issue 6, 2023

Unravelling the role of individual components in pBAE/polynucleotide polyplexes in the synthesis of tailored carriers for specific applications: on the road to rational formulations

Abstract

Oligopeptide end–modified poly(β-amino ester)s (OM-pBAEs) offer a means for the effective implementation of gene therapeutics in the near future. A fine-tuning of OM-pBAEs to meet application requirements is achieved by the proportional balance of oligopeptides used and provide gene carriers with high transfection efficacy, low toxicity, precise targeting, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Understanding the influence and conformation of each building block at molecular and biological levels is therefore pivotal for further development and improvement of these gene carriers. Herein, we unmask the role of individual OM-pBAE components and their conformation in OM-pBAE/polynucleotide nanoparticles using a combination of fluorescence resonance energy transfer, enhanced darkfield spectral microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and microscale thermophoresis. We found that modifying the pBAE backbone with three end-terminal amino acids produces unique mechanical and physical properties for each combination. Higher adhesion properties are seen with arginine and lysine-based hybrid nanoparticles, while histidine provides an advantage in terms of construct stability. Our results shed light on the high potential of OM-pBAEs as gene delivery vehicles and provide insights into the influence of the nature of surface charges and the chemical nature of the pBAE modifications on their paths towards endocytosis, endosomal escape, and transfection.

Graphical abstract: Unravelling the role of individual components in pBAE/polynucleotide polyplexes in the synthesis of tailored carriers for specific applications: on the road to rational formulations

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
12 nov 2022
Accepted
03 feb 2023
First published
06 feb 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2023,5, 1611-1623

Unravelling the role of individual components in pBAE/polynucleotide polyplexes in the synthesis of tailored carriers for specific applications: on the road to rational formulations

M. Navalón-López, A. Dols-Perez, S. Grijalvo, C. Fornaguera and S. Borrós, Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 1611 DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00800A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements