Nanotubes Functionalized with Lipids and Natural Amino Acid Dendrimers: A New Strategy to Create Nanomaterials for Delivering Systemic RNAi

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) have unique electronic, mechanical, and structural properties as well as chemical stability that make them ideal nanomaterials for applications in materials science and medicine. Here, we report the design and creation of a novel strategy for functionalizing SWNT to systemically silence a target gene in mice by delivering siRNA at doses of in vivo. These results provide the first evidence that nanotubes can be functionalized with lipids and amino acids to systemically deliver siRNA. This new technology not only can be used for systemic RNAi, but may also be used to deliver other drugs in vivo.