Silencing Breast Cancer Genes Using Morpholino Embedded DNA-Tile-AuNPs Nanostructures.

There is an ongoing effort to increase the efficiency of gene delivery for the regulation of diseases-related genes. In this report, we demonstrate the efficiency of a DNA-based nanostructure to deliver morpholino antisense oligonucleotides for the upregulated genes in breast cancer as an alternative to the currently used delivery systems. A DNA-tile structure is constructed by embedding antisense oligonucleotides targeting the and genes. Then, the sticky ends of the DNA-tile nanostructures are hybridized to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) coated with the complementary oligonucleotides to enhance their cellular uptake. It is found that the morpholino antisense oligonucleotide embedded DNA-tile-AuNPs structure is 30% more effective than the liposome-based system to deliver morpholinos and induce gene silencing in breast cancer cells. The results of the study suggest that the prepared novel nanostructure is an effective and biocompatible carrier that can be used in gene silencing studies and can be further pursued in studies.