Cellulose-based polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles for DNA vaccine delivery

Cellulose-based nanoparticles were prepared from oppositely charged carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and quaternized cellulose (QC) in an aqueous medium. The DNA complexing capacity of CMC-QC nanoparticles and the transfection efficiency of the DNA-loaded nanoparticles in COS-7 cells were first investigated using pEGFP-N1-a plasmid DNA encoding the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-as a model, and then with a candidate DNA vaccine, pMASIA-tPAs-tE2.2, that has been developed against infection with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV). The results revealed that CMC-QC nanoparticles could bind DNA efficiently, and the optimized DNA-loaded nanoparticles mediated very effective transfection in COS-7 cells, which was comparable to that achieved with Lipofectamine 2000. The novel CMC-QC nanoparticles show promise as a delivery system for DNA vaccines.