Functionalization of dendritic polyethylene with cationic poly(p-phenylene ethynylene) enables efficient siRNA delivery for gene silencing.

ABSTRACT

A novel system based on a dendritic polyethylene-cationic poly(p-phenylene ethynylene) polyvalent nanocarrier was developed for siRNA delivery. By using the combination of a molecular wire and a "dendritic effects" strategy, this design provides the nanocarrier system with low cytotoxicity, cellular imaging and high siRNA delivery efficiency, allowing it to exhibit remarkable gene knockdown abilities as well as real-time monitoring of the siRNA delivery process.