Gene
therapy is the treatment of genetic diseases by the delivery of nucleic genes
into a patient's cells to replace the ‘impaired’ genes and regain their
biological function, as well as to trigger them some additional functions.
Successful cellular uptake of genetic material requires efficient biocompatible
carriers. Viral gene delivery is highly effective, but safety concern limits
its clinical applications. For non-viral vectors, genetic material is delivered
to the nucleus by passive diffusion through the nuclear pores.
Polyethyleneimine
(PEI) is a cationic polymer with high affinity for DNA and RNA. However, PEI is poorly internalized by cells.
Introducing nanodiamonds within PEI-gene complexes highly improves their
transfection efficiency 1.
Biocompatible
nanodiamonds with average size of 4-5 nm provide the effective gene delivery, -
they are rapidly swallowed up by cells and are small enough to penetrate the
nucleus.
The
most studied gene-nanodiamond therapeutic complexes are based on the functionalized
nanodiamonds with a cationic surface enabling to adsorb and desorb negatively
charged DNA and RNA 2.
In addition, nanodiamonds as a carrier can be linked to
cell-targeting ligands for targeted gene delivery 3. Complexes of genes together
with fluorescent nanodiamonds enable to track them in real time.
Reference:
- M. Chen,
et al., Nanodiamond vectors functionalized with polyethylenimine for siRNA
delivery, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 1 (21) (2010) 3167–3171.
- Alhaddad,
et al., Nanodiamond as a vector for siRNA delivery to Ewing sarcoma cells,
Small 7 (21) (2011) 3087–3095.
- C. Cui,
et al., RGDS covalently surfaced nanodiamond as a tumor targeting carrier of
VEGF-siRNA: synthesis, characterization and bioassay, J. Mater. Chem, (11),
70-80.