Preparation of hdl (High density lipoprotein) micro- and nanoparticles as gene delivery system

Nowadays, the rapid development of nanotechnology and gene therapy causes the traditional drugs to be replaced by new therapeutics, created by these systems. With drug delivery systems, created using nanotechnology methods, it has been possible to more effectively target drugs to desired organs and to reduce side effects to other or-gans. HDL (high density lipoprotein) is a unique complex structure for the human body. Apolipoprotein (ApoA-I) molecules that contained in HDL particles provides a natural interaction with SRB1 receptors in the cell membrane. The higher presence of SRB1 receptors on the surface of cancerous cells suggests that using HDL may target cance-rous cells. Overexpression of the Bcl-2 gene in many cancer cells prevents the cells from apoptosis. Thus, silencing of this gene is effective on cancer cell death. Chitosan is widely used as a gene delivery system because of its cationic, biocom-patible, biodegradable, non-toxic, cheap and low immunogenic properties. The aim of this study is to develop and in vitro characterization of active targeted chitosan nanoparticles by binding HDL to their surface to transport anti-Bcl-2 siRNA to cancer cells.