Amphiphilic Dendrimers: Novel Self-Assembling Vectors for Efficient Gene Delivery

✍ Scribed by Derk Joester; Myriam Losson; Raphaël Pugin; Harry Heinzelmann; Elke Walter; Hans P. Merkle; François Diederich

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 151 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0044-8249
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.200250284

✦ Synopsis

Nonviral gene delivery remains an outstanding challenge to the scientific community. [1] Fifteen years of interdisciplinary effort since the introduction of cationic amphiphiles for DNA and RNA transfection by Felgner et al. [2] compare to millions of years of evolutionary optimization of the competing viral vectors. While actual progress has been moderate, some key issues for efficient delivery have been identified. [3] Biocompatibility, charge/receptor-mediated uptake, tissue-specific targeting, endosomal escape, nuclear tropism, and vector unpacking all contribute to the canon of requirements. The hunt for a "magic bullet" has led to a stunning multitude of synthetic vector systems, including small molecule amphiphiles, [4] linear, branched, and more sophisticated block copolymers, [5] as well as dendrimers. [6, 7] As a recent development, polymeric controlled-release drug-delivery systems