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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Synthesis, Functionalization, and Characterization of Fusogenic Porous Silicon Nanoparticles for Oligonucleotide Delivery
Published on: April 16, 2019
Conjugation of siRNA with comb-type PEG enhances serum stability and gene silencing efficiency
Karthikeyan Gunasekaran1, Thi H Nguyen, Heather D Maynard
1School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences (BABS), The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Abstract:
A thiol-modified siRNA targeting the enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP) gene was conjugated with RAFT-synthesized, pyridyl disulfide-functional poly(PEG methyl ether acrylate)s (p(PEGA)s). siRNA-p(PEGA) conjugates demonstrated significantly enhanced in vitro serum stability and nuclease resistance compared to the unmodified and thiol-modified siRNA. The complexes of siRNA-p(PEGA) conjugates with a fusogenic peptide, KALA ((+)/(-) = 2) inhibited the protein expression approximately 28-fold more than the KALA complex of the unmodified siRNA. The protein inhibition caused by siRNA-p(PEGA)-KALA complexes (56 ± 5%-58 ± 3% of the fluorescence expressed in non-treated cells) was comparable to the effect of the unmodified siRNA-lipofectamine complex (77 ± 7%).
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