To take advantage of the benefits of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a gene-delivery system, researchers led by Daxiang Cui at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, have developed novel polyamidoamine dendrimer modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (dMNTs) for gene delivery to improve the amount and delivery efficiency of genes taken by CNTs into human cancer cells.
Stepwise growth of different generations of dendrimers on the surface of CNTs was manipulated until generations 1 to 5 of dMNTs were achieved. As the generation of PAMAM dendrimer increased, the amount of antisense c-myc oligonucleotides (asODNs) absorbed by dMNTs also increased. The asODN-G5.0 dMNTs exhibit the maximal delivery efficiency and inhibition effects on cancer cells among MNT–NH2–asODN composites, dendrimer–asODN composites and dMNT–asODN composites, which may be helpful to solve the current problem in antisense therapy.
The group believes that PAMAM dendrimer-coated MWCNTs may provide a new path to the construction of gene carriers with ascendant capacity and excellent delivery efficiency. This delivery system could be robust and flexible enough to deliver a variety of substances.
The researchers presented their work in Nanotechnology.