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Published on: January 19, 2019
Shape Transformation Following Reduction-Sensitive PEG Cleavage of Polymer/DNA Nanoparticles
John-Michael Williford1, Yong Ren2, Kevin Huang3
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205 ; Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 ; Translational Tissue Engineering Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287.
Abstract:
PEGylated polycation/DNA micellar nanoparticles have been developed that can undergo shape transformation upon cleavage of the PEG grafts in response to an environmental cue. As a proof-of-principle, DNA nanoparticles with higher PEG grafting density adopting long, worm- and rod-like morphologies, transition to more condensed nanoparticles with spherical and short-rod morphologies upon cleavage of a fraction of the PEG grafts from the copolymer. This shape transformation leads to increased surface charges, correlating with improved transfection efficiency.
