Transfection efficiency transferrin ligand

Transferrin as a ligand efficiently transfers small MW drugs, liposomes, and macromolecules through a receptor-mediated endocytosis mechanism (Deshpande et al. 1994) because the transform receptors are found on many mammalian cells (Dautry-Varsat 1986). Mao et al. (2001) coupled transferrin with chitosan nanoparticles prepared by chitosan and sodium sulfate. The transferrin-conjugated chitosan nanoparticles showed a fourfold increase of transfection efficiency in HEK293 cells and HeLa cells as compared with the chitosan ones. 

The receptor ligand transferrin has been incorporated into chitosan/DNA polyplexes which enhanced gene transfer up to four-fold compared to immod-ified chitosan [67]. In a similar fashion, incorporation of C-terminal domain of adenovirus fiber knob protein enhanced transfection up to 130-fold in HeLa cells. Further modifications include the incorporation of hydrophobic moieties to generate dodecylated chitosan, deoxychoHc acid modified chitosan. Urocanic acid-modified chitosan [68] was reported to mediate efficient gene delivery it was hypothesized that the imidazole ring plays a crucial role for enhancing the release of internalized polyplexes from endosomal vesicles. 

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