Core-Shell DNA-Cholesterol Nanoparticles Exert Lysosomolytic Activity in African Trypanosomes.

ABSTRACT: Trypanosoma brucei is the causal infectious agent of African trypanosomiasis in humans and Nagana in livestock. Both diseases are currently treated with a small number of chemotherapeutics, which are hampered by a variety of limitations reaching from efficacy and toxicity complications to drug-resistance problems. Here, we explore the forward design of a new class of synthetic trypanocides based on nanostructured, core-shell DNA-lipid particles. In aqueous solution, the particles self-assemble into micelle-type structures consisting of a solvent-exposed, hydrophilic DNA shell and a hydrophobic lipid core. DNA-lipid nanoparticles have membrane-adhesive qualities and can permeabilize lipid membranes. We report the synthesis of DNA-cholesterol nanoparticles, which specifically subvert the mem

SUBMITTER: Knieß R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9826209 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature