A research team from RMIT University, CSIRO Manufacturing, University of New South Wales, Graz University of Technology and the University of Adelaide, in Australia, have demonstrated an easy and efficient method to use nano MOFs for carrying large-size intact gene sets to be applied in gene therapy. Their study reports encapsulation of a complete gene-set in zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) MOFs and cellular expression of the gene delivered by the nano MOF composites, with data obtained at the MISTRAL beamline at the ALBA Synchrotron showing intracellular presence of the biocomposite particles.
MOFs (metal-organic frameworks) are porous materials with well-defined geometry and high loading capacity. For biological applications, their high porosity makes these composites an effective strategy for loading and protection of proteins; however, their use for other biomacromolecules such as nucleic acids is still in their infancy. Now, a research team lead by RMIT University from Melbourne has been studying the use of ZIF-8 MOFs as possible gene delivery vectors. The results show encapsulation of a gene-set in ZIF-8 MOFs and its cellular expression, proving that MOFs do not damage the structural and functional activity of the cargo nucleic acid, essential for possible applications in gene therapy as disease treatments.
>Read more on the ALBA website
Image: Left: Confocal laser scanning microscope images of plGFP@ZIF-8 transfected into human prostate cancer epithelial cells. See the entire image here.