title: Drug delivery systems based on nucleic acid nanostructures.
abstract: The field of DNA nanotechnology has progressed rapidly in recent years and hence a large variety of 1D-, 2D- and 3D DNA nanostructures with various sizes, geometries and shapes is readily accessible. DNA-based nanoobjects are fabricated by straight forward design and self-assembly processes allowing the exact positioning of functional moieties and the integration of other materials. At the same time some of these nanosystems are characterized by a low toxicity profile. As a consequence, the use of these architectures in a biomedical context has been explored. In this review the progress and possibilities of pristine nucleic acid nanostructures and DNA hybrid materials for drug delivery will be discussed. For the latter class of structures, a distinction is made between carriers with an inorganic core composed of gold or silica and amphiphilic DNA block copolymers that exhibit a soft hydrophobic interior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Chemistry, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan Willem
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Herrmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D004247:DNA
keywords: Colloidal gold particles; DNA; DNA block copolymers; Drug delivery; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology