Polymersome delivery of siRNA and antisense oligonucleotides.

ABSTRACT: siRNA and antisense oligonucleotides, AON, have similar size and negative charge and are often packaged for in vitro delivery with cationic lipids or polymers-but exposed positive charge is problematic in vivo. Here we demonstrate loading and functional delivery of RNAi and AON with non-ionic, nano-transforming polymersomes. These degradable carriers are taken up passively by cultured cells after which the vesicles transform into micelles that allow endolysosomal escape and delivery of either siRNA into cytosol for mRNA knockdown or else AON into the nucleus for exon skipping within pre-mRNA. Polymersome-mediated knockdown appears as efficient as common cationic-lipid transfection and about half as effective as Lenti-virus after sustained selection. For AON, initial results also show that

SUBMITTER: Kim Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2740336 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature