Porous Silicon and Polymer Nanocomposites for Delivery of Peptide Nucleic Acids as Anti-MicroRNA Therapies.

Beavers, Kelsey R; Werfel, Thomas A; Shen, Tianwei; Kavanaugh, Taylor E; Kilchrist, Kameron V; Mares, Jeremy W; Fain, Joshua S; Wiese, Carrie B et al. · Adv Mater · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Self-assembled polymer/porous silicon nanocomposites overcome intracellular and systemic barriers for in vivo application of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) anti-microRNA therapeutics. Porous silicon (PSi) is leveraged as a biodegradable scaffold with high drug-cargo-loading capacity. Functionalization with a diblock polymer improves PSi nanoparticle colloidal stability, in vivo pharmacokinetics, and intracellular bioavailability through endosomal escape, enabling PNA to inhibit miR-122 in vivo.

Medical subject headings