REVIEW: Dendrimers in Gene Transfection

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D. G. Shcharbin^1*, B. Klajnert², and M. Bryszewska²

¹Institute of Biophysics and Cell Engineering, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, ul. Akademicheskaya 27, 220072 Minsk, Belarus; E-mail: d.shcharbin@mail.ru

²Department of General Biophysics, University of Lodz, Banacha 12/16, Lodz 90-237, Poland; E-mail: marbrys@biol.uni.lodz.pl

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received February 26, 2009; Revision received March 9, 2009

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Dendrimers are a new class of nanocomposite materials. They are branching polymers whose structure is formed by monomeric subunit branches diverging to all sides from a central nucleus. The type of nucleus, attached monomers, and functional groups can be chosen during synthesis, which produces dendrimers of definite size, shape, density, polarity, branch mobility, and solubility. This review deals with problems of dendrimer molecular structures and capability of in vitro, in vivo, ex vivo, and in situ transfection of genetic material. Advantages and shortcomings of different types of dendrimers in this respect are discussed.

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KEY WORDS: dendrimer, complex, transfection, gene, DNA, RNA

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297909100022

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