title: Efficient gene delivery and multimodal imaging by lanthanide-based upconversion nanoparticles.
abstract: Nanoparticles have been explored as nonviral gene carriers for years because of the simplicity of surface modification and lack of immune response. Lanthanide-based upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are becoming attractive candidates for biomedical applications in virtue of their unique optical properties and multimodality imaging ability. Here, we report a UCNPs-based structure with polyethylenimine coating for both efficient gene transfection and trimodality imaging. Cytotoxicity tests demonstrated that the nanoparticles exhibited significantly decreased cytotoxicity compared to polyethylenimine polymer. Further, in vitro studies revealed that the gene carriers are able to transfer the enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) plasmid DNA into Hela cells in higher transfection efficiency than PEI. Gene silencing was also examined by delivering bcl-2 siRNA into Hela cells, resulting in significant downregulation of target bcl-2 mRNA. More importantly, we demonstrated the feasibility of upconversion gene carriers to serve as effective contrast agents for MRI/CT/UCL trimodality imaging both in vitro and in vivo. The facile fabrication process, great biocompatibility, enhanced gene transfection efficiency, and great bioimaging ability can make it promising for application in gene therapy.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Changchun 130022, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yunlu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yuanxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Piaoping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ziyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Hongzhou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.forename: Chunxia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhiyao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Ping'an
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D020868:Gene Silencing; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements / Q000737:chemistry*; D049449:Luminescence; D051379:Mice; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011094:Polyethyleneimine / Q000737:chemistry; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D011094:Polyethyleneimine