Novel Nanostructured Calcium Phosphate Based Delivery Systems for Non-Viral Gene Delivery

Calcium phosphate (CaP) based approaches remain an attractive option for delivering plasmid DNA (pDNA) into cultured cells [1, 2]. However, two major limitations associated with this vector exist. First, it yields lower transfection efficiencies with respect to its’ viral counterparts. Second, CaP mediated gene delivery leads to transient transgene expression. Thus, we hypothesized that these concerns could respectively be addressed by: (1) synthesizing particles with precise control of the materials’ parameters including (i.e. Ca/P ratio, particle size, crystal structure, and microstructure) and (2) incorporating the particles into a 3-D biodegradable fibrin scaffold. The goal of this study was therefore to synthesize and optimize the efficacy of both nano-structured CaP (NanoCaPs) particles and a composite scaffold comprised of fibrin, CaP and pDNA for non-viral gene delivery applications.