Rare-earth-incorporated polymeric vector for enhanced gene delivery

Cationic polymer PEI-CyD is doped with Nd by plasma technology to produce the gene vector: Nd@PEI-CyD. Luciferase expression and EGFP transfection experiments performed in vitro reveal that Nd@PEI-CyD has significantly higher transfection efficiency than lipofectamine 2000 and PEI-CyD and the mechanism is studied and proposed. The rare-earth element, Nd, stimulates the energy metabolism of cells, enhances cell uptake of complexes/pDNA, and regulates the cellular pathways. These special features suggest a new strategy involving metal-incorporated non-viral gene vectors.