Solid lipid and chitosan particulate systems for delivery of siRNA

Due to the recent advances in molecular biology, there are promising gene therapy studies for prevention and treatment of cancer, genetic and infectious diseases. Many technologies in molecular biology and biotechnology were developed, and among those technologies, 'antisense technology' has become prominent in recent years. In this study, non-viral gene delivery systems such as solid lipid and chitosan nanoparticles were developed for improving intercellular delivery of siRNA. Commercially available Bcl-2 siRNA which is specific for Bcl-2 mRNA was used as a genetic material. Particle size, zeta potential, siRNA binding abilities and cytotoxic properties of the systems were evaluated and transfection assay was performed on among the prepared formulations. When the results of those studies were compared with Lipofectamine 2000, prepared formulations were found to show usable results. A novel method was developed in this study for producing solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) with highly efficient siRNA encapsulation. The results of this study showed that the genetic materials can be encapsulated in SLNs and SLNs have the potential to be used as a transfection agents.