Tuberculosis vaccines - Current scenario
Mathan Periasamy C
Universitàdegli Studi di Palermo, Italy
: J Pharm Drug Deliv Res
Abstract
Gene therapy is a growing field of medicine with great potential for the treatment of several diseases and it is based on the delivery of nucleic acids (DNA, RNA, etc.,) to specific cells. To achieve their therapeutic effects, the nucleic acids need to cross several biological barriers and be protected from the degradation by nucleases, present in biological fluids and intracellular compartments, to successfully gain access to their intracellular targets. To overcome these hurdles, it is necessary to deliver the genetic material with biocompatible carriers able to facilitate its translocation across the cell membranes and protect it from being degraded while circulating in the bloodstream. Several non viral vectors have been developed, including nanoparticles assembled from lipidic, polymeric and inorganic materials. In the present work, we describe the preparation and characterization of different cationic solid lipid nanoparticles (cSLNs) able to complex shRNA plasmid DNA. The best nanosystem was chosen for further in vitro experiments on a human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. From the biological data, we confirm that the cSLNs are not toxic, protect the DNA from the degradation by DNase and are able to transfect the genetic material into the cells, producing the desired biological effect.
Biography
