Agnieszka Fus-Kujawa
Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland
Title: Thermoresponsive star polymer surfaces as systems for gene therapy
Biography
Biography: Agnieszka Fus-Kujawa
Abstract
Efficient and controlled delivery of nucleic acids by viral and synthetic carriers with low toxicity is one of the most important challenges facing the gene therapy. Nonviral vectors are perfect candidates for this goal because the use of viral vectors have a high risk of inducing unwanted immune responses. For medical applications, a use of nanostructured polymers every year brings more and more possibilities. The creation of new polymers and the study of their biocompatibility is very important to find better and safer vectors for gene therapy. In this work we compared conventional transfection and deposition transfection performed with the use of cationic star polymer. Obtained polyplexes were tested for cytotoxicity and luciferase activity using HT-1080 cells as a model. One of the solutions to increase transfection efficiency seems to be the deposition of the nucleic acid itself or its polyplex on solid support. The support used for the purpose is functioning as a substrate supporting the organization and differentiation of cells, while immobilized DNA or RNA delivers significant genetic information into the cells. The major advantages of the immobilization of nucleic acid/polyplexes include the direct contact of polymer layer loaded with the nucleic acid with the cells during the proliferation.The performed studies demonstrated that we obtained the novel effective system, based upon star polymer architecture, which is potentially useful for gene delivery. This work was supported by the Polish National Science Center contract no. UMO-2015/17/B/ST5/01095.