Polycation mediated delivery

Thomas M, Klibanov A M (2003). Non-viral gene therapy polycation-mediated DNA delivery. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 62 27-34. 

Some recent reports suggest that Pluronic block copolymers can be used as the components of novel self-assembling gene delivery systems. Astafieva et al. (77) have demonstrated that Pluronic block copolymers can enhance polycation-mediated gene transfer in vitro. A synthetic polycation, poly(A(-ethyl-4-vmylpyridinixun bromide) (PEVP), jmd plasmid DNA, were mixed with 1% P85 to treat the cells. Both the DNA uptake... 

X. Gao and L. Huang. Potentiation of cationic liposome-mediated gene delivery by polycations, Biochemistry 35 1027-1036 (1996). 

Fig. 4 Top Cationization of the protein human serum albumin carrying multiple positively charged primary amino groups. Images show that such albumin polycations (stained red) reveal efficient cellular uptake by clathrin-mediated endocytosis, endosomal release (yellow arrows), and allow gene delivery and release into cells due to tight interaction of DNA, as exemplified by the isothermal titration calorimetry graph...

The transferrin receptor was one of the first to be exploited for receptor-mediated gene delivery. All actively metabolising cells require iron that is internalised by the cell as a transferrin-iron complex by means of receptor mediated endocytosis. To exploit this ubiquitous and efficient transport mechanism for introducing DNA into cells, conjugates of chicken or human transferrin with polycations (polylysine or protamine) were synthesised and used to form complexes with plasmid DNA. The number of transferrin molecules attached to each polylysine molecule varies according to the molecular weight of the polymer, but is generally around 1 transferrin molecule for every 50 lysine residues. ... 

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