Functional star polymers as reagents for efficient nucleic acids delivery into HT-1080 cells

Abstract

Star polymers of N,N′-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and hydroxyl-bearing oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (OEGMA-OH) were used as pDNA and mRNA carriers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of stars in the formation of polyplexes with mRNA. Polyplexes efficiently delivered nucleic acids into HT-1080 cells, while their cytotoxicity was kept significantly low due to the presence of OEGMA-OH units in the star. Hydroxyl functionalities were used for the introduction of fluorophore moieties for monitoring of the complex location after the cell uptake. Thus, versatile gene delivery vectors based upon functional star polymers were developed.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Gene delivery
• polyplexes
• star polymers

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Izabela Potocka Ph.D. (Laboratory of Microscopic Techniques, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Silesia, Jagiellońska 28, 40-032 Katowice, Poland) for assistance with the confocal laser scanning microscopy and Aleksander Foryś (Microscopy Laboratory, Center of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Curie-Sklodowskiej 34, 41-819 Zabrze, Poland) for cryogenic transmission electron microscopy measurements.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Polish National Science Center under contract no. UMO-2015/17/B/ST5/01095.