Sequence-Defined Polymers for The Delivery of Oligonucleotides

Abstract

Short synthetic oligonucleotides (ONs) are a group of therapeutic molecules with enormous clinical potential owing to their high specificity and ability to target the expression of virtually any single or group of genes. Clinical translation of ONs is hampered by the inadequate bioavailability in the target cells due to the substantial extracellular and intracellular barriers exposed to these molecules. Different cationic polymers have been successfully deployed for the delivery of ONs. However, heterogeneous nature of these classical polymers is not suitable for clinical applications and hence vectors with completely defined structure are required. In this review, we discuss recent advances with sequence-defined polymers and their application for the delivery of short ONs.

Keywords::

• cell-penetrating peptides
• oligonucleotide delivery
• oligonucleotides
• nonviral delivery
• precise polymers
• sequence-defined polymers
• siRNA delivery
• solid-phase peptide synthesis
• targeted delivery

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The German Research Foundation is gratefully acknowledged for financial support of related research by the authors within the Cluster of Excellence Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM) and special research focus project grant SFB1032 B4 (E Wagner). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The German Research Foundation is gratefully acknowledged for financial support of related research by the authors within the Cluster of Excellence Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM) and special research focus project grant SFB1032 B4 (E Wagner). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.