biostudies-literatureNeves ARFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia1256https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8401607biostudies-literatureUnknown13(8)Cancer gene therapy, mediated by non-viral systems, remains a major research focus. To contribute to this field, in this work we reported on the development of dendrimer drug/gene ternary complexes. This innovative approach explored the great capacity of both polyamidoamine (PAMAM)-paclitaxel (PTX) conjugate and polyethylenimine (PEI) polymers to complex a p53-encoding plasmid DNA (pDNA), highlighting the utility of considering two compacting agents. The pDNA complexation capacity has been investigated as function of the nitrogen to phosphate groups ratio (N/P), which revealed to be a tailoring parameter. The physicochemical properties of the conceived ternary complexes were revealed and were found to be promising for cellular transfection. Furthermore, the formulated co-delivery systems dPharmaceuticsDevelopment of Tailor-Made Dendrimer Ternary Complexes for Drug/Gene Co-Delivery in Cancer.PMC84016072020.08310.BD; SFRH/BD/148406/2019 and SFRH/BD/148393/2019Faria RBiswas SNeves ARPaul MAlbuquerque TSousa ACosta DfalseDevelopment of Tailor-Made Dendrimer Ternary Complexes for Drug/Gene Co-Delivery in Cancer.Cancer gene therapy, mediated by non-viral systems, remains a major research focus. To contribute to this field, in this work we reported on the development of dendrimer drug/gene ternary complexes. This innovative approach explored the great capacity of both polyamidoamine (PAMAM)-paclitaxel (PTX) conjugate and polyethylenimine (PEI) polymers to complex a p53-encoding plasmid DNA (pDNA), highlighting the utility of considering two compacting agents. The pDNA complexation capacity has been investigated as function of the nitrogen to phosphate groups ratio (N/P), which revealed to be a tailoring parameter. The physicochemical properties of the conceived ternary complexes were revealed and were found to be promising for cellular transfection. Furthermore, the formulated co-delivery systems d2021-01-01T00:00:00Z2021 Aug2025-04-26T17:29:43.299Z2022-02-11T09:58:56.624ZS-EPMC84016073445221810.3390/pharmaceutics13081256