Dendrimer-Amino Acid Conjugation Service

Dendrimers functionalized with amino acids can be used as gene delivery vectors with significantly improved transfection efficiency. As an expert in dendrimer research, CD BioSciences provides innovative dendrimer products and cost-effective dendrimer engineering services to customers worldwide, breaking down the limitations of dendrimer applications. Our expertise in organic chemistry and dendrimer research helps our customers overcome all difficulties in dendrimer-amino acid conjugation services and applications.

Limitations of Dendrimers as Gene Delivery Vectors

As a promising strategy for the treatment of inherited and acquired diseases, the biggest obstacle for gene therapy is the development of efficient and non-toxic gene vectors. An ideal gene vector should have multiple functions to overcome different obstacles in the transfection process.

• Firstly, the vector should be able to induce genes into nanoparticles since the formed nanoparticles are after all stable in serum.
• Secondly, the nanoparticles can enter the cell through a specific endocytic pathway and can escape from acidic vesicles such as endosomes and lysosomes.
• Finally, the vector can successfully release genes in the cytoplasm or nucleus.

Dendrimers are a class of synthetic polymers with well-defined structure, spherical shape, good solubility, nanoscale size, excellent monodispersity, and large number of surface functionalities and interior cavities. Because of the multivalent effect of positive charges on the surface of dendrimers, they can effectively condense DNA. In addition, the presence of a high density of protonatable tertiary amine groups inside the dendrimer provides a "proton sponge effect" during endosome escape. Therefore, dendrimers and their couples can be used as non-viral gene delivery vehicles. However, their application in gene therapy is limited by their cytotoxicity and relatively low transfection efficiency.

Dendrimer-Amino Acid Conjugation Improves Transfection Efficiency

To further improve transfection efficiency, dendrimers can be functionalized by ligands such as cyclodextrins, lipids, sugars, peptides, fluorine compounds, nanoparticles, and amino acids. Among them, amino acids are a class of small molecules with the same basic structure but different residues, and they can be classified into three different types: anionic, cationic, and neutral, or hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acids. Dendrimers are modified by amino acids through simple condensation reactions.

• Dendrimer-Arginine/Lysine Conjugation
  Dendrimers can change the positive charge density on the surface by arginine and lysine modifications, increasing DNA condensation and interaction with cell membranes.
• Dendrimer-Phenylalanine/Leucine Conjugation
  Phenylalanine and leucine modifications can make the dendrimer surface hydrophobic, which is required for cellular endocytosis.
• Dendrimer-Histidine Conjugation
  In an acidic environment, protonation of the imidazole group of histidine enhances the proton buffering capacity of dendrimers. Therefore, dendrimer modification with histidine not only improves transfection efficiency, but also reduces cytotoxicity.

Transfection mechanisms of single, dual and triple amino acid-functionalized dendrimers. (Wang F, et al., 2014)

Our Services

With experienced scientists and world-class equipment, CD BioSciences provides dendrimer-amino acid conjugation services to our customers. Our distinguished scientists can provide customized solutions to meet the specific needs of our clients for dendrimer modification. Our services include, but are not limited to.

Why Choose CD BioSciences?

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CD BioSciences provides the most comprehensive and effective solutions for dendrimer engineering. We are committed to helping our customers solve all problems encountered in the modification of dendrimers to advance their widespread use, and we have innovative dendrimer products. We deliver each rigorously quality-tested result with a fast turnaround time. If you are interested in our services or have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us.

Reference

1. Wang F, et al., Synergistic effect of amino acids modified on dendrimer surface in gene delivery. Biomaterials. 2014, 35: 9187-98.