Investigation of Peptide/amphiphilic polymer functionalized graphene as gene carrier for gene therapy applications

The success of gene therapy is largely dependent on the development of a gene carrier. Recently, graphene family has been served as novel nanomaterials for drug and gene delivery applications. The aim of this study is to functionalize reduced graphene (rGO) using a phospholipid- based amphiphilic polymer (PL-PEG) and octaarginine peptide. The synthesized carrier is comprehensively characterized for its chemical structure, size, surface charge and morphology. The nano-carrier cytocompatibility, cellular uptake and gene knocking-down ability of siRNa-loaded carrier are also assessed. The functionalized rGO shows good stability in biological solution as well as excellent cytocompatibility. Regarding efficient cellular uptake of synthesized carrier (82±5.1%), the cell death siRNA-loaded carrier provides efficient survival related gene knocking-down compared to naked siRNA treated MCF-7 cells. In conclusion, the novel dual peptide/ amphiphilic polymerfunctionalized rGO have a great potential to be used as a carrier for siRNA delivery with relevancy in therapeutics and clinical applications