Gene transfection activities of amphiphilic steroid-polyamine conjugates

The design and evaluation of a novel potent class of DNA delivery agents based on steroid-polyamine conjugates bearing a flexible linker are reported. The hydrophobic regions are based on steroids, i.e. chlolestane and lithocholic acid motifs. The linker, which couples a hydrophobic steroid and a hydrophilic polyamine, in this study can be regarded as a two-atom extension of the conventional carbamate linker. We found that the gene transfection activity of the steroid-polyamine conjugates is influenced by the polyamine chain length and steroid structure. Molecular modeling of the relevant amphiphilic molecules revealed low-energy structures in which the polyamine chains are folded rather than stretched. This work suggests a significant effect of space-filling, i.e. the shape and orientation of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions, upon the efficiency of gene transfection.