• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.866-871
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• 2012

A novel cholesterol-based cationic lipid containing a tri-2-hydroxyethylamine head group and ether linker (Chol-THEA) was synthesized and examined as a potent gene delivery vehicle. In the preparation of cationic liposome, the addition of DOPE as helper lipid significantly increased the transfection efficiency. To find the optimum transfection efficiency, we screened various weight ratios of DOPE and liposome/DNA (N/P). The best transfection efficiency was found at the Chol-THEA:DOPE weight ratio of 1:1 and N/P weight ratio of 10~15. Most of the plasmid DNA was retarded by this liposome at the optimum N/P weight ratio of 10. The transfection efficiency of Chol-THEA liposome was compared with DOTAP, Lipofectamine, and DMRIE-C using the luciferase assay and GFP expression. Chol-THEA liposome with low toxicity had better or similar potency of gene delivery compared with commercial liposomes in COS-7, Huh-7, and MCF-7 cells. Therefore, Chol-THEA could be a useful non-viral vector for gene delivery.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.178-178
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• 2006

Chitosan has been investigated as a non-viral vector because it has several advantages such as biocompatibility, biodegradability and low toxicity with high cationic potential. However, low specificity and low transfection efficiency of chitosan as a DNA carrier need to be overcome for clinical trials. In this study, chemical modification for enhancement of cell specificity and transfection efficiency was investigated. Also, the chitosan derivative formulations in vivo were included.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.788-794
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• 2015

Cationic liposomes have been actively used as gene delivery vehicles despite their unsatisfactory efficiencies because of their relatively low toxicity. In this study, we designed novel heterodimeric peptides as nonviral gene delivery systems from TAT and NLS peptides using cysteine-to-cysteine disulfide bonds between the two. Mixing these heterodimeric peptides with DNA before mixing with lipofectamine resulted in higher transfection efficiencies in MCF-7 breast cancer cells than mixing unmodified TAT, NLS, and a simple mixture of TAT and NLS with DNA, but did not show an adverse effect on cell viability. In gel retardation assays, the DNA binding affinities of heterodimeric peptides were stronger than NLS but weaker than TAT. However, this enhancement was only observed when heterodimeric peptides were premixed with DNA before being mixed with lipofectamine. The described novel transfection-enhancing peptide system produced by the heterodimerization of TAT and NLS peptides followed by simple mixing with DNA, increased the gene transfer efficiency of cationic lipids without enhancing cytotoxicity.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.329-334
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• 2006

Cationic liposome has been studied as one of the most promising non-viral gene delivery systems. In this report, we describe a new synthesized cholesterolic cationic lipid (2-aminoethylcarbamate-cholesterol) and dioleylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) improve the cellular uptake properties of antisense ODNs, as well as plasmid DNA with low toxicity. This formulation of cholesterolic cationic lipid termed Chol-E, efficiently transfects ODNs and plasmids into many cell types in the presense or absence of 10% serum in the medium.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.802-807
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• 2011

Cationic liposomes have been actively used as gene delivery vehicle because of their minimal toxicity, but their relatively low efficiency of gene delivery is the major disadvantage of these vectors. Recently, cysteine residue incorporation to HIV-1 Tat peptide increased liposomemediated transfection compared with unmodified Tat peptide. Therefore, we designed a novel modified Tat peptide having a homodimeric (Tat-CTHD, Tat-NTHD) and closed structure (cyclic Tat) simply by using the disulfide bond between cysteines to develop a more efficient and safe nonviral gene delivery system. The mixing of Tat-CTHD and Tat-NTHD with DNA before mixing with lipofectamine increased the transfection efficiency compared with unmodified Tat peptide and lipofectamine only in MCF-7 breast cancer cells and rat vascular smooth muscle cells. However, cyclic Tat did not show any improvement in the transfection efficiency. In the gel retardation assay, Tat-CTHD and Tat-NTHD showed more strong binding with DNA than unmodified Tat and cyclic Tat peptide. This enhancement was only shown when Tat-CTHD and Tat-NTHD were mixed with DNA before mixing with lipofectamine. The effects of Tat- CTHD and Tat-NTHD were also valid in the experiment using DOTAP and DMRIE instead of lipofectamine. We could not find any significant cytotoxicity in the working concentration and more usage of these peptides. In conclusion, we have designed a novel transfection-enhancing peptide by easy homodimerization of Tat peptide, and the simple mix of these novel peptides with DNA increased the gene transfer of cationic lipids more efficiently with no additional cytotoxicity.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2000

Gene therapy is a method for the treatment of diseases with introducing the gene-engineered materials into a patient with gene-deficiency disease (e.g. cystic fibrosis) or cancer to produce a therapeutic protein in a patient's cells. Successful gene therapy requires establishing both gene expression systems and delivery systems. Viral and non-viral vectors have been used for gene delivery. Viral vectors have a high transfection efficiency, but are limited in relations to issues of safety, toxicity and immunogenecity. Non-viral vectors are easy to prepare and relatively safe. However, non-viral vectors have a low transfection efficiency. Cationic liposomes are the most available among non-viral vectors. Cationic liposomes have been used to transfect cells both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Besides, several formulations containing cationic lipid are being used in clinical trials in cases of cystic fibrosis or cancer. A crucial subject to the further development of gene delivery vectors will be a long-term gene expression with following characteristics; protecting and deliverying DNA efficiently, non-toxic and non-immunogenic, and easy to produce in large scale.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 2007

Biodegradable cationic poly(ester-amide) polymers were synthesized by double-monomer method, that showed excellent solubility in many organic solvents and water. Different degradation patterns were obtained by the regulation of monomer ratios and overall long period of time of DNA protection up to 12 days was shown by PicoGreen reagent assay. Good transfection profiles in the presence of serum and very low toxicity on mammalian cells may allow these polymers to become suitable for long-term gene delivery systems and therapeutic applications.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2003

Polymeric gene delivery system attracts profound attention as it shows less toxicity, versatility, and reasonable gene expression efficiency. Terplex system, a synthetic biopolymeric gene delivery system consisting of stearyl poly-L-lysine (stearyl-PLL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) was evaluated for its body distribution of gene expression of exogenously administered pDNA after tail-vein injection in mice. Kidney and spleen are two major organs with highest gene expression, whereas liver and heart showed marginal gene expression among the organs examined. Hemolytic effect of the terplex system was evaluated using human red blood cells, where terplex system did not cause significant hemolysis at the concentrations above the experimental ranges, although unmodified PLL or stearyl-PLL without LDL did. Serum stability of terplex system against enzymatic degradation was also significantly enhanced, presumably due to the steric stabilization from the polymers. Based on these findings and along with its high in vitro transfection efficiency, terplex system could serve as a safe and efficient polymeric gene delivery system with many applications for the in vivo gene therapy.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1124-1131
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• 2020

Techniques used for the regulation of gene expression facilitate studies of gene function and treatment of diseases via gene therapy. Many tools have been developed for the regulation of gene expression in mammalian cells. The Lac operon system induced with isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) is one of the employed inducible systems. IPTG mimics the molecular structure of allolactose and has a strong affinity for the corresponding repressor. IPTG is known to rapidly penetrate into mammalian cells and exhibits low toxicity. In the present study, we developed a new inducible expression system that could regulate the expression of genes in mammalian cells using IPTG. Here we confirm that unlike other vector systems based on the Lac operon, this expression system allows regulation of gene expression with lactose in the mammalian cells upon transfection. The co-treatment with IPTG and lactose could improve the regulatory efficiency of the specific target gene expression. The regulation of gene expression with lactose has several benefits. Lactose is safe in humans as compared to other chemical substances and is easily available, making this technique very cost-effective.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.94-99
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• 2013

Polydiacetylene (PDA) is made by photopolymerization of self-assembled diacetylene monomers. If diacetylene monomers are arranged systematically and close enough with distance of atoms, 1,4-addition polymerization will occur by the irradiation of 254 nm ultraviolet rays and then PDA will have alternated ene-yne polymer chains at the main structure. Aqueous solutions of diffused PDA is tinged with blue which shows ${\lambda}_{max}$ 640 nm. Visible color changes from blue to red occurs in response to a variety of environmental perturbations, such as temperature, pH, and ligand-receptor interactions. In this study, we synthesized cationic peptides - PCDA(10,12-pentacosadyinoic acid) liposome using a solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) method and prepared liposome solutions at various molar ratios using MPEG-PCDA. When mammalian cells were treated with the liposomes, high transfection efficiency and low toxicity were observed.