MPS
Mononuclear phagocyte system
NCP
Nucleosome core particle
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
PAMAM
Poly(amido amine)
PCL
Poly(ε-caprolactone)
PDI
Polydispersity index
PDMAEMA
Poly[(2-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate]
pDNA
Plasmid DNA
PEC
Polyelectrolyte complex
PEG
Poly(ethylene glycol)
PEI
Polyethyleneimine
PHEMA
Poly(2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate)
PHPMA
Poly(2-hydroxy propyl methacrylate)
PLL
Poly(L-lysine)
PLLA
Poly(L-lactide)
PMMA
Poly(methyl methacrylate)
PNIPAM
Poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)
PPI
Poly(propylene imine)
PTMAEMA
Poly[(N-trimethylammonium) ethyl methacrylate]
PVP
Poly(4-vinylpyridine)
RNA
Ribonucleic acid
SV
Simian virus
TEM
Transmission electron microscopy
1 Introduction
The subject of this review is complexes of DNA with synthetic cationic polymers
and their application in gene delivery [1–4]. Linear, graft, and comb polymers
(flexible, i.e., non-conjugated polymers) are its focus. This review is not meant to be
exhaustive but to give representative examples of the various types (chemical
structure, architecture, etc.) of synthetic cationic polymers or polyampholytes that
can be used to complex DNA. Other interesting synthetic architectures such
dendrimers [5–7], dendritic structures/polymers [8, 9], and hyperbranched
polymers [10–12] will not be addressed because there are numerous recent valuable
reports about their complexes with DNA. Natural or partially synthetic polymers
such as polysaccharides (chitosan [13], dextran [14, 15], etc.) and peptides [16, 17]
for DNA complexation or delivery will not be mentioned.
Since the first generation of polycations for cell transfection, such as poly
(ethylene imine) (PEI, commercially available as ExGen500 or jetPEI in its linear
form or as Lipofectamine, which is hyperbranched PEI incorporated in cationic
lipids) [18, 19], poly(L-lysine) (PLL) [20], poly(amido amine) (PAMAM, Starburst)
[8], poly(propylene imine) (PPI) [21, 22], and their derivatives, various other
architectures and structural motifs have been designed in order to surpass the
Polyelectrolyte Complexes of DNA and Polycations as Gene Delivery Vectors
105
Mononuclear phagocyte system
NCP
Nucleosome core particle
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
PAMAM
Poly(amido amine)
PCL
Poly(ε-caprolactone)
PDI
Polydispersity index
PDMAEMA
Poly[(2-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate]
pDNA
Plasmid DNA
PEC
Polyelectrolyte complex
PEG
Poly(ethylene glycol)
PEI
Polyethyleneimine
PHEMA
Poly(2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate)
PHPMA
Poly(2-hydroxy propyl methacrylate)
PLL
Poly(L-lysine)
PLLA
Poly(L-lactide)
PMMA
Poly(methyl methacrylate)
PNIPAM
Poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)
PPI
Poly(propylene imine)
PTMAEMA
Poly[(N-trimethylammonium) ethyl methacrylate]
PVP
Poly(4-vinylpyridine)
RNA
Ribonucleic acid
SV
Simian virus
TEM
Transmission electron microscopy
1 Introduction
The subject of this review is complexes of DNA with synthetic cationic polymers
and their application in gene delivery [1–4]. Linear, graft, and comb polymers
(flexible, i.e., non-conjugated polymers) are its focus. This review is not meant to be
exhaustive but to give representative examples of the various types (chemical
structure, architecture, etc.) of synthetic cationic polymers or polyampholytes that
can be used to complex DNA. Other interesting synthetic architectures such
dendrimers [5–7], dendritic structures/polymers [8, 9], and hyperbranched
polymers [10–12] will not be addressed because there are numerous recent valuable
reports about their complexes with DNA. Natural or partially synthetic polymers
such as polysaccharides (chitosan [13], dextran [14, 15], etc.) and peptides [16, 17]
for DNA complexation or delivery will not be mentioned.
Since the first generation of polycations for cell transfection, such as poly
(ethylene imine) (PEI, commercially available as ExGen500 or jetPEI in its linear
form or as Lipofectamine, which is hyperbranched PEI incorporated in cationic
lipids) [18, 19], poly(L-lysine) (PLL) [20], poly(amido amine) (PAMAM, Starburst)
[8], poly(propylene imine) (PPI) [21, 22], and their derivatives, various other
architectures and structural motifs have been designed in order to surpass the
Polyelectrolyte Complexes of DNA and Polycations as Gene Delivery Vectors
105