Poster Presenter

Reducible poly(oligo-D-arginine) For Enhanced DNA Or Sirna Delivery
Young-Wook Won and Yong-Hee Kim
South Korea

Gene therapy has been considered as an alternative to the conventional protein therapy, however; relatively high molecular weight and negative charge of nucleic acids limit the use of DNA or siRNA in therapeutic applications. Approaches for enhancing the transfection efficiency have reported various types of gene carriers, such as cationic polymers, nanoparticles and liposomes. In particular, the intracellular reducible high molecular weight polymers have been highlighted as a promising gene carrier due to their intracellular reducibility, high transfection efficiency and minimal toxicity. Studies with protein transduction domains (PTDs) have shown to deliver a wide variety of cargo in vitro and In vivo. In the present study, reducible poly(oligo-D-arginine) (rPOA) based on 9-arginine (R9) PTD was developed for successful DNA or siRNA delivery with minimal toxicity and high level of transgene expression or gene silencing. The delivery ability of rPOA for siVEGF and DNA was investigated in subcutaneous tumor model of squamous cell carcinoma-7 and in mouse lung by intratracheal administration, respectively. This polypeptide effectively condensed and stabilized DNA or siVEGF by forming nano-sized assemblies, and represented high level of transgene expression or inhibition of VEGF production resulting in suppressed tumor growth.