Tracing the cellular uptake of nanostructured lipid carriers as delivery systems for miRNA

Abstract

Nowadays, nucleic acids are gaining much attention as leading therapeutics. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are one part of this family of promising tools that can be used in the treatment of numerous diseases. However, the application of miRNAs is limited due to their poor stability and limited cellular uptake. Here, we developed cationic nanostructured lipid carriers (cNLCs) as delivery agents for miRNA. Furthermore, we used human serum album (HSA) as a coat for the cNLCs, to see how it will influence the uptake. These nanoparticles showed favorable physicochemical properties to be used as drug delivery systems, as they successfully complexed miRNA. Therefore, our next goal is to study and understand their cellular uptake. For this purpose, we traced the uptake of the miRNA/cNLCs in two different cell lines (3T3-L1 and MCF-7 cells) under varying experimental conditions.