Abstract
DNA nanostructures, owing to their controllable and adaptable nature, have been considered as highly attractive nanoplatforms for biomedical applications in recent years. However, their use in the biological environment has been restricted by low cellular transfection efficiency in mammalian cells, weak stability under physiological conditions, and endonuclease degradation. Herein, we demonstrate an effective approach to facilitate fast transfection of DNA nanostructures and enhance their stability by encapsulating DNA origami with a biocompatible cationic protein (cHSA) via electrostatic interaction. The coated DNA origami is found to be stable under physiological conditions. Moreover, the cHSA coating could significantly improve the cellular transfection efficiency of DNA origami, which is essential for biological applications.
Highlights
The DNA origami technique, which creates highly defined-complex nanostructures through programmable folding of a long circular single strand DNA molecule, has been experiencing remarkably fast developments in the last ten years [1,2,3]
The cationic human serum albumin (cHSA) was prepared by converting the carboxyl groups of amino-acid residue to amino groups via ethylenediamine modification according to literature methods [31]
The molecular weight of cHSA increased from 67 kDa to 71 kDa according to MALDI-Tof spectroscopy (Figure S3a), indicating ~100 of carboxyl groups were converted to amino groups on HSA
Summary
The DNA origami technique, which creates highly defined-complex nanostructures through programmable folding of a long circular single strand DNA molecule, has been experiencing remarkably fast developments in the last ten years [1,2,3]. DNA origami nanostructures have the ideal size (10 to 100 nm) for nanomedicine applications. They are biodegradable and biocompatible, and their application in diagnostics and therapeutics has been highlighted [4,5,6]. In comparison to conventional materials used for nanomedicine, such as polymeric or inorganic nanoparticles, DNA nanostructures benefit from highly controlled size and shape, precise modifications, programmable responsiveness, and the possibility of designing sophisticated transformations for smart drug delivery [7,8,9,10]. The triangular DNA nanostructure has been shown as a biocompatible drug carrier for tumor targeting [7]. DNA nanorobot could transform and release cargos in response to several bio-signals and even allow logical calculations [8,9]
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