Contribution of hydrophobic/hydrophilic modification on cationic chains of poly(ε-caprolactone)-graft-poly(dimethylamino ethylmethacrylate) amphiphilic co-polymer in gene delivery

2-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) were respectively used to modify a kind of amphiphilic cationic nanoparticles to change their external hydrophilicity. The hydrophilic/hydrophobic modifications significantly influenced the gene transfection efficiency of these nanoparticles in vitro, due to different cellular uptake and endosomal escape efficacy.