Branching in poly(amine-co-ester) polyplexes impacts mRNA transfection

Kwangsoo Shin, Hee Won Suh, Alexandra Suberi, Chang Hee Whang, Madalina Ene, Julian Grundler, Molly K. Grun, W. Mark Saltzman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Branching is a key structural parameter of polymers, which can have profound impacts on physicochemical properties. It has been demonstrated that branching is a modulating factor for mRNA delivery and transfection using delivery vehicles built from cationic polymers, but the influence of polymer branching on mRNA delivery remains relatively underexplored compared to other polymer features such as monomer composition, hydrophobicity, pKa, or the type of terminal group. In this study, we examined the impact of branching on the physicochemical properties of poly(amine-co-esters) (PACE) and their efficiency in mRNA transfection in vivo and in vitro under various conditions. PACE polymers were synthesized with various degrees of branching ranging from 0 to 0.66, and their transfection efficiency was systemically evaluated. We observed that branching improves the stability of polyplexes but reduces the pH buffering capacity. Therefore, the degree of branching (DB) must be optimized in a delivery route specific manner due to differences in challenges faced by polyplexes in different physiological compartments. Through a systematic analysis of physicochemical properties and mRNA transfection in vivo and in vitro, this study highlights the influence of polymer branching on nucleic acid delivery.

Original languageEnglish
Article number122692
JournalBiomaterials
Volume311
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

  • Branched polymer
  • Non-viral platform
  • Polyplex
  • mRNA delivery
  • poly(amino-co-ester)

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