title: Ternary hybrid nanocomposites for gene delivery and magnetic resonance imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
abstract: This paper describes comparative studies in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and gene deliveries toward hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) HepG2 cells with ternary composites that consist of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles (NPs) (8-10 nm) with deferoxamine coating, circular plasmid DNA (~4 kb) equipped with green fluorescent probe, and branched polyethylenimine (PEI) (25 kDa, PDI 2.5). The packaging of the ternary complexes has been characterized by agarose gel retardation assay. By tuning the PEI/NP ratios and with a fixed DNA amount, different ternary composites have been employed for NP/gene transfection towards HepG2 cells, which have been characterized by in vitro MRI and green fluorescence protein (GFP) fluorescence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Institute of Creativity, The Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China;
authors.forename: Ken Cham-Fai
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Institute of Creativity, The Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China;
authors.forename: Chi-Hin
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Institute of Creativity, The Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China; ; Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ming
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Siu-Fung
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Kathy W Y
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Sham
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Josie M Y
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chun-Pong
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Chak
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yi-Xiang J
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Christopher H K
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Cheng
keywords: Deferoxamine; gene delivery; hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO)