Gene therapy
Like viruses, nanoparticles can be used as vectors for genes. But in contrast to viruses, they are less immunogenic and have higher DNA transport capacity. In a study, DNA loaded polyethylenimine nanoparticles were used in order to treat lipopolysaccharide induced acute lung injury in mice. After intravenous injection of the nanoparticles, the beta2-Adrenic Receptor genes in the nanoparticles led to a short lived transgene expression in alveolar epithelia cells. As a result the 5-day survival rate improved from 28 % to 64 %. The severity of the symptoms measured by alveolar fluid clearance, lung water content, histopathology, bronchioalveolar lavage cellularity, protein concentration, and inflammatory cytokines was also significantly attenuated [20]. DNA loaded nanoparticles are also promising candidates in the treatment of cystic fibrosis. It was shown in a clinical trial that nasal application of DNA nanoparticles is safe and evidently leads to vector gene transfer [21]. One major problem in this context is to overcome the mucus barrier. In a recent study, it was demonstrated that densely PEG-coated DNA nanoparticles can rapidly penetrate extracorporeal human cystic fibrosis and extracorporeal mouse airway mucus. In addition, those particles exhibited better gene transfer after intranasal administration to mice than conventional carriers [22].