Gene‐carried chitosan‐linked polyethylenimine induced high gene transfection efficiency on dendritic cells

A dendritic cell ( DC ) networking system has become an attractive approach in cancer immunotherapy. Successful DC gene engineering depends on the development of transgene vectors. A cationic polymer, chitosan‐linked polyethylenimine ( PEI ) ( CP ), possessing the advantages of both PEI and chitosan, has been applied in nonviral transfection of DC s. Physicochemical evaluation showed that CP / DNA complexes could form cationic nanoparticles. Compared with DC s transfected with commercial reagent, L ipofectamine2000, it showed higher transfection efficiency and lower cytotoxicity when DC s were transfected with CP / DNA complexes. A nuclear trafficking observation of CP / DNA complexes by a confocal laser scanning microscope further revealed that the CP could help DNA enter into the cytoplasm and finally into the nucleus of a DC . Finally, vaccination of DC s transfected with CP / DNA encoding gp100 slightly improved resistance to the B 16 BL 6 melanoma challenge. This is the first report that CP polymer is used as a nonviral vector for DC gene delivery and DC vaccine. Essentially, these results might be helpful to design a promising nonviral vector for DC gene delivery.