New Lipid- and Glycolipid-Based Nanosystems for Targeted Gene Delivery: Cholenims, Glycoclips, Glycolipids and Chitosan

Cationic lipid vesicles and polypeptides represent common non-viral gene delivery systems for in vitro and in vivo applications. New non-viral vectors for targeted gene delivery, namely, mono-, di- and tricholesterol derivatives of oligoethyleneimine, glycolipids and chitosan derivatives are reported in this chapter. Testing of genotoxicity, cytotoxicity and gene transfer activity against transformed monolayer and suspension cell cultures is carried out for all of these mediators of gene transfer. Experimental results show that GLYCOLIPID VI containing a lactose residue, which was used to form liposomes for gene delivery into tissues (using 14C-adenosine-labeled or plasmid DNA), expressed the affinity of corresponding lipoplexes for kidney, liver, and spleen tissues. GLYCOLIPID VI is a prospective tool for designing new generation of nonviral vectors for targeted gene delivery to tissues. In addition, mCHIT preparation demonstrated high gene transfer activity (β-Gal and CSEAP plasmids) for both monolayer and suspension cell lines