Novel bioresorbable cationic polyester for gene delivery

P.C. CARACCIOLO; F. PARRA; G.A. ABRAHAM; B. VÁZQUEZ; J. SAN ROMÁN

Bahía Blanca

Simposio; IX Simposio Argentino de Polímeros (SAP 2011); 2011

PLAPIQUI

Gene therapy involves the insertion of a functional copy of a defective or absent gene in an individual´s cells and tissues, with the purpose of treating a disease, replacing lost cellular functions or introducing a new function. This therapy has great potential in treating diseases such as cancer and AIDS. To this end, the gene requires a vector to be internalized into the cells and carry out its biological function. The success of this therapy depends largely on the efficiency of the vector. In recent years there has been substantial progress in the development and application of non-viral vectors (Mintzer and Simanek, 2009). However, there are still many problems to be solved before this therapy becomes a standard clinical practice. In this work, we have obtained a bioresorbable polymer suitable for DNA complexation and gene delivery, employing tetraethylene glycol (TEG) and piro L-glutamic acid. The polyester has protonable amino groups in its backbone for the subsequent complexation.