title: Bioreducible POSS-cored star-shaped polycation for efficient gene delivery.
abstract: The bioreducible star-shaped gene vector (POSS-(SS-PDMAEMA)8) with well-defined structure and relatively narrow molecular weight distribution was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of (2-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) from a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) macroinitiator. POSS-(SS-PDMAEMA)8 was composed of a biocompatible POSS core and eight disulfide-linked PDMAEMA arms, wherein the PDMAEMA chain length could be adjusted by controlling polymerization time. POSS-(SS-PDMAEMA)8 can effectively bind pDNA into uniform nanocomplexes with appropriate particle size and zeta potential. The incorporation of disulfide bridges gave the POSS-(SS-PDMAEMA)8 material facile bioreducibility. In comparison with POSS-(PDMAEMA)8 without disulfide linkage, POSS-(SS-PDMAEMA)8 exhibited much lower cytotoxicity and substantially higher transfection efficiency. The present work would provide useful information for the design of new POSS-based drug/gene carriers.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Ministry of Education, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, College of Materials Science & Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology , Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: De-Cheng
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Fu-Jian
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008689:Methacrylates / Q000737:chemistry*; D017646:Organosilicon Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D058105:Polymerization; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D008689:Methacrylates; D017646:Organosilicon Compounds; C503161:polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane methacrylate; D004247:DNA; C049840:2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate