Wigglesworth Tony J, Teixeira Francisco, Axthelm Fabian, Eisler Sara, Csaba Noemi S, Merkle Hans P, Meier Wolfgang, Diederich François
Laboratorium für Organische Chemie, ETH-Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
Org Biomol Chem. 2008 Jun 7;6(11):1905-11. doi: 10.1039/b802808g. Epub 2008 Apr 7.
A series of block copolymers containing a dendronised cationic block for efficient DNA binding and a poly(ethylene glycol) block for encapsulation of the complex were synthesised in a modular fashion using a combination of click chemistry and ring-opening metathesis polymerisation. DNA binding experiments, investigated using gel electrophoresis, dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy, showed that all polymers prepared in this study strongly complex DNA and self-assemble into polyion complex micelles with apparent hydrodynamic radii ranging from 20-120 nm at physiological pH (7.4). The in vitro transfection efficiency and toxicity of these potential non-viral vectors were also evaluated in HeLadouble dagger cells using plasmid DNA encoding for green fluorescent protein as the reporter gene.
