| Despite of the higher gene transfection abilities, the uses of viral gene delivery vehicles for gene delivery purposes are limited due to the safety problems associated with them. The efforts to produce synthetic gene delivery vehicles have led to the popularization of a variety of non-viral gene delivery vehicles, such as liposomes, cationic polymers, nanoparticles, and dendrimers. Compared to those of lipoplex systems, polyplex-based ones can effectively promote vesicular escape and nuclear entry. The synthesis of various cationic polymers and their in vitro uses are discussed in detail. The incorporation of carbohydrate moieties in cationic polymers to overcome the toxicity issues of the gene delivery agent, has led to the popularization of living radical polymerization techniques. Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer polymerization (RAFT) has proven to be ideal for the synthesis of biocompatible cationic polymers with reduced toxicity. It has also been demonstrated that cationic polymer coated nanoparticle-DNA complexes, show enhanced gene transfer ability due to better DNA binding ability and increased stability in physiological conditions than their corresponding polyplexes. The synthesis and surface functionalization of various cationic glycopolymers stabilized nanoparticles, namely gold nanoparticles, and carbon nanotubes are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the stability of gene delivery agents that have been synthesized, and their uses for gene delivery purposes are demonstrated. Finally, the toxicity of the synthetic gene delivery vehicles is determined using photometric and manual cell viability assays. |
