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Nanomedicine for gene therapy

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Abstract

Viruses are promising vehicles that result in high gene expression level, but issues of safety and virulent nature prevented its extensive use. Therefore, nonviral approach was investigated with the intervention of nanomedicine. The science of nanomedicine offered an excellent platform for therapeutic delivery as they provide options to include functionalities and engineer the system. As the term ‘nano’ refers to the generation of a very small dimension structure, their unique physicochemical characteristics with increased surface area/volume ratio made them potential vectors to perform gene therapy. Various forms of nanoparticles are continued to be synthesised, and this review discusses the immediate barriers that nanoparticles have to encounter both during systemic movement in the body and intracellular trafficking to deliver the genes at the site of action.

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Acknowledgements

Authors wish to thank the Director, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST) and the Head of BMT Wing of SCTIMST for providing facilities for the completion of this review. One of the authors (S.M.A) is grateful to the CSIR-SRF fellowship, provided by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi. This work was supported by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India through the project “Facility for Nano/Microparticle Based Biomaterials—Advanced Drug Delivery Systems (FADDS)” number 8013, under the Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Research Programme, New Delhi.

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  1. Facility for Nano/Microparticles Based Biomaterials for Advanced Drug Delivery Systems (FADDS) Division of Biosurface Technology, Biomedical Technology Wing, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, 695012, India

    Susan Muthe Alex & Chandra P. Sharma

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Correspondence to Chandra P. Sharma.

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Alex, S.M., Sharma, C.P. Nanomedicine for gene therapy. Drug Deliv. and Transl. Res. 3, 437–445 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-012-0120-0

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