3D Macrocyclic Structure Boosted Gene Delivery: Multi-Cyclic Poly(β-Amino Ester)s from Step Growth Polymerization

The topological structures of polymers play a critical role in determining their gene delivery efficiency. Exploring novel polymeric structures as gene delivery vectors is thus of great interest. In this work, a new generation of multi-cyclic poly(β-amino ester)s (CPAEs) with unique topology structure was synthesized for the first time via step growth polymerization. Through controlling the occurrence stage of cyclization, three types of CPAEs with rings of different sizes and topologies were obtained. In vitro experiments demonstrated that the CPAEs with macro rings (MCPAEs) significantly boosted the transgene expression comparing to their branched counterparts. Moreover, the MCPAE vector with optimized terminal group efficiently delivered the CRISPR plasmid coding both Staphylococcus aureus Cas9 nuclease and dual guide sgRNAs for gene editing therapy.