A Two-Pronged Pulmonary Gene Delivery Strategy: A Surface-Modified Fullerene Nanoparticle and a Hypotonic Vehicle.

ABSTRACT: Inhaled gene therapy poses a unique potential of curing chronic lung diseases, which are currently managed primarily by symptomatic treatments. However, it has been challenging to achieve therapeutically relevant gene transfer efficacy in the lung due to the presence of numerous biological delivery barriers. Here, we introduce a simple approach that overcomes both extracellular and cellular barriers to enhance gene transfer efficacy in the lung in vivo. We endowed tetra(piperazino)fullerene epoxide (TPFE)-based nanoparticles with non-adhesive surface polyethylene glycol (PEG) coatings, thereby enabling the nanoparticles to cross the airway mucus gel layer and avoid phagocytic uptake by alveolar macrophages. In parallel, we utilized a hypotonic vehicle to facilitate endocytic uptake of the

SUBMITTER: Chen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8238871 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature