Gene delivery techniques for adult stem cell-based regenerative therapy

Genetic Engineering of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Using Biodegradable and Lipid-Like Highly Branched Poly(β-amino ester)s

Biodegradable and lipid-like highly branched poly(β-amino ester)s, HPAESA, were developed to enhance the biological functions of adipose-derived stem cells by gene transfection. Biodegradability reduces the cytotoxicity of HPAESA and enables controlled DNA release. Lipid mimicry enhances cellular uptake and endosomal escape of HPAESA/DNA polyplexes. HPAESA are able to transfect rat adipose-derived stem cells (rADSs) and human ADSCs (hADSCs) with orders of magnitude higher efficiency than commercial gene transfection reagents, with cell viability exceeding 90%. Most importantly, HPAESA can effectively transfer the nerve growth factor (NGF)-encoding plasmid to rADSCs and induce high NGF secretion, which significantly promotes neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells.

Scaffold-Mediated Gene Delivery for Osteochondral Repair

Osteochondral defects involve both the articular cartilage and the underlying subchondral bone. If left untreated, they may lead to osteoarthritis. Advanced biomaterial-guided delivery of gene vectors has recently emerged as an attractive therapeutic concept for osteochondral repair. The goal of this review is to provide an overview of the variety of biomaterials employed as nonviral or viral gene carriers for osteochondral repair approaches both in vitro and in vivo, including hydrogels, solid scaffolds, and hybrid materials. The data show that a site-specific delivery of therapeutic gene vectors in the context of acellular or cellular strategies allows for a spatial and temporal control of osteochondral neotissue composition in vitro. In vivo, implantation of acellular hydrogels loaded with nonviral or viral vectors has been reported to significantly improve osteochondral repair in translational defect models. These advances support the concept of scaffold-mediated gene delivery for osteochondral repair.

Effective gene delivery into human stem cells with a cell-targeting Peptide-modified bioreducible polymer

Stem cells are poorly permissive to non-viral gene transfection reagents. In this study, we explored the possibility of improving gene delivery into human embryonic (hESC) and mesenchymal (hMSC) stem cells by synergizing the activity of a cell-binding ligand with a polymer that releases nucleic acids in a cytoplasm-responsive manner. A 29 amino acid long peptide, RVG, targeting the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAchR) was identified to bind both hMSC and H9-derived hESC. Conjugating RVG to a redox-sensitive biodegradable dendrimer-type arginine-grafted polymer (PAM-ABP) enabled nanoparticle formation with plasmid DNA without altering the environment-sensitive DNA release property and favorable toxicity profile of the parent polymer. Importantly, RVG-PAM-ABP quantitatively enhanced transfection into both hMSC and hESC compared to commercial transfection reagents like Lipofectamine 2000 and Fugene. ∼60% and 50% of hMSC and hESC were respectively transfected, and at increased levels on a per cell basis, without affecting pluripotency marker expression. RVG-PAM-ABP is thus a novel bioreducible, biocompatible, non-toxic, synthetic gene delivery system for nAchR-expressing stem cells. Our data also demonstrates that a cell-binding ligand like RVG can cooperate with a gene delivery system like PAM-ABP to enable transfection of poorly-permissive cells.

Therapeutic foam scaffolds incorporating biopolymer-shelled mesoporous nanospheres with growth factors

A novel therapeutic scaffolding system of engineered nanocarriers within a foam matrix for the long-term and sequential delivery of growth factors is reported. Mesoporous silica nanospheres were first functionalized to have an enlarged mesopore size (12.2nm) and aminated surface, which was then shelled by a biopolymer, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) or poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), via electrospraying. The hybrid nanocarrier was subsequently combined with collagen to produce foam scaffolds. Bovine serum albumin (BSA), used as a model protein, was effectively loaded within the enlarged nanospheres. The biopolymer shell substantially prolonged the release period of BSA (2-3weeks from shelled nanospheres vs. within 1week from bare nanospheres), and the release rate was highly dependent on the shell composition (PEG>PLA). Collagen foam scaffolding of the shelled nanocarrier further slowed down the protein release, while enabling the incorporation of a rapidly releasing protein, which is effective for sequential protein delivery. Acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF), loaded onto the shelled-nanocarrier scaffolds, was released over a month at a highly sustainable rate, profiling a release pattern similar to that of BSA. The biological activity of the aFGF was evidenced by the significant proliferation of osteoblastic precursor cells in the aFGF-releasing scaffolds. Furthermore, the aFGF-delivering scaffolds implanted in rat subcutaneous tissue for 2weeks showed a substantially enhanced invasion of fibroblasts with a homogeneous population. Taken together, it is concluded that the biopolymer encapsulation of mesoporous nanospheres effectively prolongs the release of growth factors over weeks to a month, providing a nanocarrier platform for a long-term growth factor delivery. Moreover, the foam scaffolding of the nanocarrier system is a potential therapeutic three-dimensional matrix for cell culture and tissue engineering.