A biocompatible glycogen based nanoparticle coating with lipid bilayer for intracellular delivery of survivin siRNA to HeLa cells

In recent years, gene therapy has drawn great attention in the field of cancer treatment for high efficacy, selectivity, and few adverse effects. Many vectors have been developed for gene delivery because it is vulnerable to nuclease degradation in vivo. However, the safety, efficacy, and functionality of gene carriers remain a challenge. Therefore, a novel glycogen-based nanoparticle system (siRNA/GT@Lip) was developed to deliver survivin siRNA for antitumor therapy. A simple glycogen-triphenylphosphine (GT) derivative was synthesized to combine with siRNA by electrostatic interaction, and then it was coated with lipid bilayer to prepare siRNA/ GT@Lip. The results showed that the siRNA/GT@Lip had good size, stability, and transfection activity. More importantly, GT and GT@Lip presented lower cytotoxicity than PEI25K in the cells suggesting that GT@Lip was safer than PEI polymers in gene delivery. Moreover, the NPs can protect siRNA from the rapid degradation by nucleases, enhance cellular uptake, and promote lysosomal escape for gene silencing effect in HeLa cells. Therefore, the glycogen NPs coating with a lipid system provides potential application in gene delivery for cancer therapy.