P-Cyclodextrin-oligoethylenimine Cationic Star Polymer Coated Quantum Dots for Self-tracking Co-delivery of Gene and Anti-cancer drug

摘要

A novel design of multifunctional nanoparticles as a promising co-carrier for gene and chemotherapeutic drug with self-tracking function was demonstrated. The gene and drug co-carrier is composed of quantum dots (QDs) coated by a star-shaped cationic polymer of oligoethylenimine (OEI) with P-cyclodextrin (P-CD) as the polymer core. Chemotherapeutic drug paclitaxel (PTX) can be pre-complexed into the P-CD cavity, while OEI chains can condense DNA into nanoparticle for efficient gene delivery, and the QDs are used for self-tracking of the carrier. Our results showed that the co-delivered drug not only functioned as a chemotherapeutic anti-cancer drug, but also presented a positive synergetic effect to enhance the gene transfection efficiency in MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells.