Enhancement
of Transfection Efficiency Using
Histidine and Lysine Co-polymers
Peter Wenger,
Department of Biology, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD 21250
(Participant in the BCURE Program at UMBC, 1000 Hilltop Circle,
Baltimore, MD 21250)
Archibald James Mixson, M.D., University of Maryland, Baltimore
Pathology, Baltimore MD
Although much progress
has been made in the area of non-viral carriers as a means of delivery
for therapeutic agents, the low transfection frequency - the ability to
permeate the cell wall - in comparison to other means of gene delivery
limits the use of these carriers for large-scale therapeutic application.
Successful in vivo therapy is dependant on non-toxic and highly efficient
carriers. In the past viral vectors have been used as ways of passing
genetic material into a host cell; however, this methodology has proved
inept as the host cells were being destroyed, attributable to toxic buildup.
These facts have lead to a greater attractiveness of non-viral carriers,
the leading of which is cationic liposomes.
In this experiment we studied the efficiency of liposome carriers in combination
with histidine and lysine polymers. All co-polymers were found to have
at least a 15 to 20 fold increase in Luciferase expression when compare
to liposome alone, with the highest having close to 1000 fold greater
expression. In the presence of liposomes, the linear HK co-polymer, was
the most effective at enhancing transfection frequency followed by another
linear co-polymer, HKHH, and lastly the branched co-polymer, 2B-His.
