Manipulation of lipoplex concentration at the cell surface boosts transfection efficiency in hard-to-transfect cells

Mechanistic understanding of cell transfection mediated by cationic liposome/DNA complexes (lipoplexes) is of paramount importance for many biomedical applications. Here we put forth the concept that a simple, but relevant transfection barrier exists that is: the lipoplex concentration at the cell surface (i.e. number of lipoplexes/cell). Manipulations that increased lipoplex concentration allowed us to efficiently transfect DND41, JURKAT, MOLT3, P12-ICHIKAWA, ALL-SILL, TALL-1 human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cell lines that are known to be hard-to-transfect by commercial transfection reagents.213