Biodegradable Polymer-Metal Complexes for Gene and Drug Delivery

The delivery of genes and drugs into cells has increasingly attracted attention for the generation of genetically engineered cells. Successful drug delivery will have enormous academic, clinical, and practical impacts on gene therapy, cell and molecular biology, pharmaceutical and food industries, and bio-production. The major aim of gene therapy is to deliver genetic materials into cells effectively, genetically modifying and repairing cell functions with the possibility of inducing therapeutic healing of disease. The genetic material includes DNA, RNA, antisense, decoy DNA, and ribozymes. The aim is that the appropriate transfection would allow diseased cells to return to a healthy condition. The genetic manipulation is often manifested in the mechanisms of intracellular actions of genes and proteins, and may play an important role in making clear the key genes associated with various diseases. Based on fundamental and scientific knowledge, the delivery technology of genetic material should be applicable to producing various proteins of pharmaceutical value (e.g. cytokines, growth factors, and antibodies) and also to producing seeds resistant to harmful insects and cold weather damage. This implies that the cells might be enhanced to produce valuable pharmaceutical and food products. For each approach, it is important, for successful gene expression, to select an appropriate gene to be delivered as well as to develop the gene delivery technology to enhance transfection efficiency. This review will provide an overview of the enhanced gene expression of plasmid DNA complexed with new non-viral gene delivery vehicles by biodegradable biopolymer- metal complex, introducing our recent research data to emphasize the technical feasibility of biopolymer-metal complexes in gene therapy and biotechnology.