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Solid lipid nanoparticles mediate non-viral delivery of plasmid DNA to dendritic cells

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Abstract

There is an increasing demand for novel DNA vaccine delivery systems, mainly for the non-viral type as they are considered relatively safe. Therefore, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were investigated for their suitability as a non-viral DNA vaccine delivery system. SLNs were synthesised by a modified solvent-emulsification method in order to study their potential to conjugate with plasmid DNA and deliver them in vitro to dendritic cells using eGFP as the reporter plasmid. The DNA–SLN complexes were characterised by electron microscopy, gel retardation assays and dynamic light scattering. The cytotoxicity assay data supported their biocompatibility and was used to estimate safe threshold concentration resulting in high transfection rate. The transfection efficiency of these complexes in a dendritic cell line was shown to increase significantly compared to plasmid alone, and was comparable to that mediated by lipofectamine. Transmission electron microscopy studies delineated the pathway of cellular uptake. Endosomal escape was observed supporting the mechanism of transfection.

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Acknowledgements

D. P. acknowledges Australian Government for award of Endeavour Executive fellowship for career development. R. S. acknowledges the generous support of Maxwell Eagle Endowment award for research and the Ian Potter Foundation for establishment of NanoBioSensing Facility at RMIT University. The authors acknowledge RMIT University’s Microscopy & Microanalysis facility, a node of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility. We would also like to acknowledge Dr. Julie Quach for her technical help for flow cytometry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, 3001, Australia

    Alekhya Penumarthi, Chaitali Dekiwadia, Ian Macreadie & Peter M. Smooker

  2. NanoBiotechnology Research Laboratory, Centre for Advanced Materials & Industrial Chemistry, School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia

    Deepti Parashar, Amanda N. Abraham & Ravi Shukla

  3. Dengue/Chikungunya Research Group, National Institute of Virology, Pune, MH, 411001, India

    Deepti Parashar

  4. RMIT Microscopy & Microanalysis Facility, School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia

    Chaitali Dekiwadia

Authors
  1. Alekhya Penumarthi
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  2. Deepti Parashar
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  3. Amanda N. Abraham
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  4. Chaitali Dekiwadia
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  5. Ian Macreadie
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  6. Ravi Shukla
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  7. Peter M. Smooker
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Correspondence to Ravi Shukla or Peter M. Smooker.

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Penumarthi, A., Parashar, D., Abraham, A.N. et al. Solid lipid nanoparticles mediate non-viral delivery of plasmid DNA to dendritic cells. J Nanopart Res 19, 210 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-3902-y

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