Biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles show high efficacy and specificity at DNA delivery to human glioblastoma in vitro and in vivo.

ABSTRACT: Current glioblastoma therapies are insufficient to prevent tumor recurrence and eventual death. Here, we describe a method to treat malignant glioma by nonviral DNA delivery using biodegradable poly(β-amino ester)s (PBAEs), with a focus on the brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs), the tumor cell population believed to be responsible for the formation of new tumors and resistance to many conventional therapies. We show transfection efficacy of >60% and low biomaterial-mediated cytotoxicity in primary human BTICs in vitro even when the BTICs are grown as 3-D oncospheres. Intriguingly, we find that these polymeric nanoparticles show intrinsic specificity for nonviral transfection of primary human BTICs over primary healthy human neural progenitor cells and that this specificity is not due to

SUBMITTER: Guerrero-Cazares H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4046784 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature