Dextran-peptide hybrid for efficient gene delivery

1. A polysaccharide polymer composition for nucleic acid delivery comprising:

a polysaccharide polymer chain; and

one or more nucleic acid delivery side chains bonded to said polysaccharide polymer chain, wherein said one or more nucleic acid delivery side chains further comprise a cysteine-containing cationic peptide, and

one or more nucleic acids physically bonded to said cysteine-containing cationic peptide to form a polysaccharide-nucleic acid complex,

wherein the polysaccharide-nucleic acid complex has a molar ratio of amine or guanidine groups on the cysteine-containing cationic peptide of the nucleic acid delivery side chains (N) to the phosphate groups in the one or more nucleic acids (P) of from about 1:1 to about 20:1.

2. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said polysaccharide polymer chain comprises dextran, cellulose, starch, glycosaminoglycans, mannan, dextrin, agar, agarose, alginic acid, alguronic acid, amylose, alpha glucan, amylopectin, beta-glucan, callose, carrageenan, cellodextrin, chitin, chitosan, chrysolaminarin, cyclodextrin, DEAE-sepharose, ficoll, fructan, fucoidan, galactoglucomannan, galactomannan, gellan gum, glucan, glucomannan, glucuronoxylan, glycocalyx, glycogen, hemicellulose, homopolysaccharide, hypromellose, inulin, laminarin, lentinan, levan polysaccharide, lichenin, mixed-linkage glucan, paramylon, pectic acid, pectin, pentastarch, phytoglycogen, pleuran, polydextrose, polysaccharide peptide, porphyran, pullulan, sepharose, xylan, xyloglucan, zymosan, hyaluronan, heparin or combinations thereof.

3. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said polysaccharide polymer chain has a weight average molecular weight of from about 500 daltons to about 1,000,000 daltons.

4. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said one or more nucleic acid delivery side chains further comprise methacrylate, acrylate, methacrylamide, acrylamide, maleimide, haloacetyl, pyridyl disulfide, thiol or combinations thereof.

5. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein the cationic peptide on each of said one or more nucleic acid delivery side chains is a random copolymer having a formula selected from the group consisting of C w R 5 , C w R 3 H 3 , C w K 5 , C w K 3 , C w R 5 H 5 , C w R 3 H 3 , C w K 5 H 5 , C w K 3 H 3 , C w R m , C w K n , C w R o H p , C w K p H q , and C w R x K y H z ; wherein C is cysteine, R is arginine, K is lysine, H is histidine, and m, n, o, p, q, x, y, z and w are integers from 1 to 1,000.

6. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein the cationic peptide on each of said one or more nucleic acid delivery side chains is a block copolymer having a formula selected from the group consisting of CR 5 , CR 3 H 3 , CH 3 R 3 , CK 5 , CK 3 , CH 5 R 5 , CR 5 H 5 , CR 3 H 3 , CH 3 R 3 , CK 5 H 5 , CH 5 K 5 , CK 3 H 3 , CH 3 K 3 , R 5 C, R 3 H 3 C, K 5 C, K 3 C, R 5 H 5 C, R 3 H 3 C, K 5 H 5 C, K 3 H 3 C, CR m , CK n , CR o H p , CK p H q , R 3 H 7 C, R 3 H 5 C, R 2 H 6 C, R 4 H 6 C, R 3 H 8 C and CR x K y H z ; wherein C is cysteine, R is arginine, K is lysine, H is histidine, and m, n, o, p, q, x, y, and z are integers from 1 to 1,000.

7. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said cationic peptide comprises from about 1 to about 10000 arginine residues, from about 1 to about 10000 histidine residues and at least one cysteine residue.

8. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said cationic peptide comprises from about 1 to about 10000 lysine residues, from about 1 to about 10000 histidine residues and at least one cysteine residue.

9. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said cationic peptide has the formula NH 2 -RRRRRHHHHHC-COOH (R 5 H 5 C) (SEQ ID NO. 5).

10. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said one or more nucleic acid delivery side chains further comprise a linker molecule bound to said polysaccharide polymer chain; wherein said cationic peptide is bonded to said linker molecule by a thiol bond.

11. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein the polysaccharide-nucleic acid complex has a molar ratio of amine or guanidine groups on the side chain of peptide (N) to the phosphate group in the nucleic acid (P) of from about 1:1 to about 10:1.

12. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said one or more nucleic acids comprise ribonucleic acids, deoxyribonucleic acids or combinations thereof.

13. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said one or more nucleic acids are selected from the group consisting of Plasmid DNA, Oligonucleotides, Aptamers, DNAzymes, RNA Aptamers, RNA Decoys, Antisense RNA, Ribozymes, small interfering RNA (siRNA), microRNA (miRNA), short hairpin RNA, Antagomirs, and combinations thereof.

14. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 , further comprising one or more zwitterionic side chains.

15. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 14 , wherein said one or more zwitterionic side chains comprise a zwitterionic moiety, said zwitterionic moiety comprising a carboxybetaine group, a sulfobetaine group, a phosphobetaine group or any combinations thereof.

16. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 14 , wherein said zwitterionic moiety has a corresponding cationic ring form.

17. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 or 14 further comprising one or more reactive side chains comprising a compound selected from the group consisting of acrylates, methacrylates, methacrylamides, acrylamides, maleimides, haloacetyls, pyridyl disulfides, thiols and combinations thereof.

18. The polysaccharide polymer composition of claim 1 , wherein the polysaccharide-nucleic acid complex has a molar ratio of amine or guanidine groups on the side chain of peptide (N) to the phosphate group in the nucleic acid (P) of from about 2:1 to about 10:1.