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Effects of Branching Strategy on the Gene Transfection of Highly Branched Poly(β-amino ester)s

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Abstract

Highly branched poly(β-amino ester)s (HPAEs) have emerged as one type of the most viable non-viral gene delivery vectors, both in vitro and in vivo. However, the effects of different branching strategies on the gene transfection performance have not yet been explored. Here, using triacrylate (B3) and diamine (B4) as the branching monomers, a series of HPAEs were synthesized via the “A2 + B3 + C2” and “A2 + B4 + C2” strategies, respectively. Results show that the branching strategy plays a pivotal role in dictating the physiological properties of the HPAE/DNA polyplexes and thus leads to obviously different cell viability and transfection efficiency. Comparatively, HPAEs synthesized via the “A2 + B3 + C2” branching strategy are more favorable for DNA transfection than that synthesized via the “A2 + B4 + C2” strategy. This study may provide new insights into the development of HPAEs based non-viral DNA delivery system.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Principal Investigator Program (No. 13/IA/1962), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51873179 and 51903202), and University College Dublin.

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Yao Wang & Wei Huang

  2. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Chen-Fei Wang & De-Zhong Zhou

  3. Charles Institute of Dermatology, School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Wen-Xin Wang

  4. School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Wen-Xin Wang

  5. Department of Dermatology, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China

    Ming Lie

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  1. Yao Wang
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  2. Chen-Fei Wang
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  3. Ming Lie
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  4. De-Zhong Zhou
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  5. Wei Huang
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Correspondence to De-Zhong Zhou or Wen-Xin Wang.

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Wang, Y., Wang, CF., Lie, M. et al. Effects of Branching Strategy on the Gene Transfection of Highly Branched Poly(β-amino ester)s. Chin J Polym Sci 38, 830–839 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-020-2393-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-020-2393-y

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