Bait-and-Switch Supramolecular Strategy To Generate Noncationic RNA-Polymer Complexes for RNA Delivery

Beyond Lipids: Exploring Advances in Polymeric Gene Delivery in the Lipid Nanoparticles Era

The recent success of gene therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of effective and safe delivery systems. Complementing lipid-based delivery systems, polymers present a promising alternative for gene delivery. Significant advances have been made in the recent past, with multiple clinical trials progressing beyond phase I and several companies actively working on polymeric delivery systems which provides assurance that polymeric carriers can soon achieve clinical translation. The massive advantage of structural tunability and vast chemical space of polymers is being actively leveraged to mitigate shortcomings of traditional polycationic polymers and improve the translatability of delivery systems. Tailored polymeric approaches for diverse nucleic acids and for specific subcellular targets are now being designed to improve therapeutic efficacy. This review describes the recent advances in polymer design for improved gene delivery by polyplexes and covalent polymer-nucleic acid conjugates. The review also offers a brief note on novel computational techniques for improved polymer design. The review concludes with an overview of the current state of polymeric gene therapies in the clinic as well as future directions on their translation to the clinic.

Recent Advances in Engineering Carriers for siRNA Delivery

RNA interference (RNAi) technology has been a promising treatment strategy for combating intractable diseases. However, the applications of RNAi in clinical are hampered by extracellular and intracellular barriers. To overcome these barriers, various siRNA delivery systems have been developed in the past two decades. The first approved RNAi therapeutic, Patisiran (ONPATTRO) using lipids as the carrier, for the treatment of amyloidosis is one of the most important milestones. This has greatly encouraged researchers to work on creating new functional siRNA carriers. In this review, the recent advances in siRNA carriers consisting of lipids, polymers, and polymer-modified inorganic particles for cancer therapy are summarized. Representative examples are presented to show the structural design of the carriers in order to overcome the delivery hurdles associated with RNAi therapies. Finally, the existing challenges and future perspective for developing RNAi as a clinical modality will be discussed and proposed. It is believed that the addressed contributions in this review will promote the development of siRNA delivery systems for future clinical applications.

Structural Determinants of Stimuli-Responsiveness in Amphiphilic Macromolecular Nano-assemblies

Stimuli-responsive nano-assemblies from amphiphilic macromolecules could undergo controlled structural transformations and generate diverse macroscopic phenomenon under stimuli. Due to the controllable responsiveness, they have been applied for broad material and biomedical applications, such as biologics delivery, sensing, imaging, and catalysis. Understanding the mechanisms of the assembly-disassembly processes and structural determinants behind the responsive properties is fundamentally important for designing the next generation of nano-assemblies with programmable responsiveness. In this review, we focus on structural determinants of assemblies from amphiphilic macromolecules and their macromolecular level alterations under stimuli, such as the disruption of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB), depolymerization, decrosslinking, and changes of molecular packing in assemblies, which eventually lead to a series of macroscopic phenomenon for practical purposes. Applications of stimuli-responsive nano-assemblies in delivery, sensing and imaging were also summarized based on their structural features. We expect this review could provide readers an overview of the structural considerations in the design and applications of nanoassemblies and incentivize more explorations in stimuli-responsive soft matters.

Bioinspired Spatiotemporal Management toward RNA Therapies

Ribonucleic acid (RNA)-based therapies have become an attractive topic in disease intervention, especially with some that have been approved by the FDA such as the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Spikevax, Moderna) and Patisiran (siRNA-based drug for liver delivery). However, extensive applications are still facing challenges in delivering highly negatively charged RNA to the targeted site. Therapeutic delivery strategies including RNA modifications, RNA conjugates, and RNA polyplexes and delivery platforms such as viral vectors, nanoparticle-based delivery platforms, and hydrogel-based delivery platforms as potential nucleic acid-releasing depots have been developed to enhance their cellular uptake and protect nucleic acid from being degraded by immune systems. Here, we review the growing number of viral vectors, nanoparticles, and hydrogel-based RNA delivery systems; describe RNA loading/release mechanism induced by environmental stimulations including light, heat, pH, or enzyme; discuss their physical or chemical interactions; and summarize the RNA therapeutics release period (temporal) and their target cells/organs (spatial). Finally, we describe current concerns, highlight current challenges and future perspectives of RNA-based delivery systems, and provide some possible research areas that provide opportunities for clinical translation of RNA delivery carriers.

Polyplex designs for improving the stability and safety of RNA therapeutics

Nanoparticle-based delivery systems have contributed to the recent clinical success of RNA therapeutics, including siRNA and mRNA. RNA delivery using polymers has several distinct properties, such as enabling RNA delivery into extra-hepatic organs, modulation of immune responses to RNA, and regulation of intracellular RNA release. However, delivery systems should overcome safety and stability issues to achieve widespread therapeutic applications. Safety concerns include direct damage to cellular components, innate and adaptive immune responses, complement activation, and interaction with surrounding molecules and cells in the blood circulation. The stability of the delivery systems should balance extracellular RNA protection and controlled intracellular RNA release, which requires optimization for each RNA species. Further, polymer designs for improving safety and stability often conflict with each other. This review covers advances in polymer-based approaches to address these issues over several years, focusing on biological understanding and design concepts for delivery systems rather than material chemistry.

What's Next after Lipid Nanoparticles? A Perspective on Enablers of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics

Recent success of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines have bolstered the strength of nucleic acids as a therapeutic platform. The number of new clinical trial candidates is skyrocketing with the potential to address many unmet clinical needs. Despite advancements in other aspects, the systemic delivery of nucleic acids to target sites remains a major challenge. Thus, nucleic acid based therapy has yet to reach its full potential. In this review, we shed light on a select few prospective technologies that exhibit substantial potential over traditional nanocarrier designs for nucleic acid delivery. We critically analyze these systems with specific attention to the possibilities for clinical translation.

Thiol-Disulfide Exchange as a Route for Endosomal Escape of Polymeric Nanoparticles

Endosomal entrapment has remained the major bottleneck for cytosolic delivery of nanoparticle-based delivery systems. Uncovering fundamentally new pathways for endosomal escape is therefore highly sought. Herein, we report that disulfide bonds can enhance endosomal escape through contacts with cellular exofacial thiols, in addition to facilitating cellular uptake. Our results are supported through comparative analysis of polymeric nanogels with variable accessibility to disulfide bonds by placing these functionalities at the core or the shell of the nanogels. The findings here inform future chemical design of delivery vehicles.

Nanotechnology-Based Strategies to Overcome Current Barriers in Gene Delivery

Nanomaterials are currently being developed for the specific cell/tissue/organ delivery of genetic material. Nanomaterials are considered as non-viral vectors for gene therapy use. However, there are several requirements for developing a device small enough to become an efficient gene-delivery tool. Considering that the non-viral vectors tested so far show very low efficiency of gene delivery, there is a need to develop nanotechnology-based strategies to overcome current barriers in gene delivery. Selected nanostructures can incorporate several genetic materials, such as plasmid DNA, mRNA, and siRNA. In the field of nanotechnologies, there are still some limitations yet to be resolved for their use as gene delivery systems, such as potential toxicity and low transfection efficiency. Undeniably, novel properties at the nanoscale are essential to overcome these limitations. In this paper, we will explore the latest advances in nanotechnology in the gene delivery field.

Charge-Conversion Strategies for Nucleic Acid Delivery

Nucleic acids are now considered as one of the most potent therapeutic modalities, as their roles go beyond storing genetic information and chemical energy or as signal transducer. Attenuation or expression of desired genes through nucleic acids have profound implications in gene therapy, gene editing and even in vaccine development for immunomodulation. Although nucleic acid therapeutics bring in overwhelming possibilities towards the development of molecular medicines, there are significant loopholes in designing and effective translation of these drugs into the clinic. One of the major pitfalls lies in the traditional design concepts for nucleic acid drug carriers, viz. cationic charge induced cytotoxicity in delivery pathway. Targeting this bottleneck, several pioneering research efforts have been devoted to design innovative carriers through charge-conversion approaches, whereby built-in functionalities convert from cationic to neutral or anionic, or even from anionic to cationic enabling the carrier to overcome several critical barriers for therapeutics delivery, such as serum deactivation, instability in circulation, low transfection and poor endosomal escape. This review will critically analyze various molecular designs of charge-converting nanocarriers in a classified approach for the successful delivery of nucleic acids. Accompanied by the narrative on recent clinical nucleic acid candidates, the review concludes with a discussion on the pitfalls and scope of these interesting approaches.

Nanoparticles as Drug Delivery Systems of RNAi in Cancer Therapy

RNA interference (RNAi) can mediate gene-silencing by knocking down the expression of a target gene via cellular machinery with much higher efficiency in contrast to other antisense-based approaches which represents an emerging therapeutic strategy for combating cancer. Distinct characters of nanoparticles, such as distinctive size, are fundamental for the efficient delivery of RNAi therapeutics, allowing for higher targeting and safety. In this review, we present the mechanism of RNAi and briefly describe the hurdles and concerns of RNAi as a cancer treatment approach in systemic delivery. Furthermore, the current nanovectors for effective tumor delivery of RNAi therapeutics are classified, and the characteristics of different nanocarriers are summarized.

Development of Covalent Chitosan-Polyethylenimine Derivatives as Gene Delivery Vehicle: Synthesis, Characterization, and Evaluation

There is an increasing interest in cationic polymers as important constituents of non-viral gene delivery vectors. In the present study, we developed a versatile synthetic route for the production of covalent polymeric conjugates consisting of water-soluble depolymerized chitosan (dCS; M_W 6–9 kDa) and low molecular weight polyethylenimine (PEI; 2.5 kDa linear, 1.8 kDa branched). dCS-PEI derivatives were evaluated based on their physicochemical properties, including purity, covalent bonding, solubility in aqueous media, ability for DNA condensation, and colloidal stability of the resulting polyplexes. They were complexed with non-integrating DNA vectors coding for reporter genes by simple admixing and assessed in vitro using liver-derived HuH-7 cells for their transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity. Using a rational screening cascade, a lead compound was selected (dCS-Suc-LPEI-14) displaying the best balance of biocompatibility, cytotoxicity, and transfection efficiency. Scale-up and in vivo evaluation in wild-type mice allowed for a direct comparison with a commercially available non-viral delivery vector (in vivo-jetPEI). Hepatic expression of the reporter gene luciferase resulted in liver-specific bioluminescence, upon intrabiliary infusion of the chitosan-based polyplexes, which exceeded the signal of the in vivo jetPEI reference formulation by a factor of 10. We conclude that the novel chitosan-derivative dCS-Suc-LPEI-14 shows promise and potential as an efficient polymeric conjugate for non-viral in vivo gene therapy.

Disulfide Bridging Strategies in Viral and Nonviral Platforms for Nucleic Acid Delivery

Self-assembled nanostructures that are sensitive to environmental stimuli are promising nanomaterials for drug delivery. In this class, disulfide-containing redox-sensitive strategies have gained enormous attention because of their wide applicability and simplicity of nanoparticle design. In the context of nucleic acid delivery, numerous disulfide-based materials have been designed by relying on covalent or noncovalent interactions. In this review, we highlight major advances in the design of disulfide-containing materials for nucleic acid encapsulation, including covalent nucleic acid conjugates, viral vectors or virus-like particles, dendrimers, peptides, polymers, lipids, hydrogels, inorganic nanoparticles, and nucleic acid nanostructures. Our discussion will focus on the context of the design of materials and their impact on addressing the current shortcomings in the intracellular delivery of nucleic acids.

In-Vitro Application of Magnetic Hybrid Niosomes: Targeted siRNA-Delivery for Enhanced Breast Cancer Therapy

Even though the administration of chemotherapeutic agents such as erlotinib is clinically established for the treatment of breast cancer, its efficiency and the therapy outcome can be greatly improved using RNA interference (RNAi) mechanisms for a combinational therapy. However, the cellular uptake of bare small interfering RNA (siRNA) is insufficient and its fast degradation in the bloodstream leads to a lacking delivery and no suitable accumulation of siRNA inside the target tissues. To address these problems, non-ionic surfactant vesicles (niosomes) were used as a nanocarrier platform to encapsulate Lifeguard (LFG)-specific siRNA inside the hydrophilic core. A preceding entrapment of superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles (FexOy-NPs) inside the niosomal bilayer structure was achieved in order to enhance the cellular uptake via an external magnetic manipulation. After verifying a highly effective entrapment of the siRNA, the resulting hybrid niosomes were administered to BT-474 cells in a combinational therapy with either erlotinib or trastuzumab and monitored regarding the induced apoptosis. The obtained results demonstrated that the nanocarrier successfully caused a downregulation of the LFG gene in BT-474 cells, which led to an increased efficacy of the chemotherapeutics compared to plainly added siRNA. Especially the application of an external magnetic field enhanced the internalization of siRNA, therefore increasing the activation of apoptotic signaling pathways. Considering the improved therapy outcome as well as the high encapsulation efficiency, the formulated hybrid niosomes meet the requirements for a cost-effective commercialization and can be considered as a promising candidate for future siRNA delivery agents.

The Herbal Supplements NOZEMAT HERB® and NOZEMAT HERB PLUS®: An Alternative Therapy for N. ceranae Infection and Its Effects on Honey Bee Strength and Production Traits

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are the most effective pollinators for different crops and wild flowering plants, thus maintaining numerous ecosystems in the world. However, honey bee colonies often suffer from stress or even death due to various pests and diseases. Among the latter, nosemosis is considered to be one of the most common diseases, causing serious damage to beekeeping every year. Here, we present, for the first time, the effects from the application of the herbal supplements NOZEMAT HERB^® (NH) and NOZEMAT HERB PLUS^® (NHP) for treating N. ceranae infection and positively influencing the general development of honey bee colonies. To achieve this, in autumn 2019, 45 colonies were selected based on the presence of N. ceranae infections. The treatment was carried out for 11 months (August 2019–June 2020). All colonies were sampled pre- and post-treatment for the presence of N. ceranae by means of light microscopy and PCR analysis. The honey bee colonies’ performance and health were evaluated pre- and post-treatment. The obtained results have shown that both supplements have exhibited statistically significant biological activity against N. ceranae in infected apiaries. Considerable enhancement in the strength of honey bee colonies and the amount of sealed workers was observed just one month after the application of NH and NHP. Although the mechanisms of action of NH and NHP against N. ceranae infection are yet to be completely elucidated, our results suggest a new holistic approach as an alternative therapy to control nosemosis and to improve honey bee colonies’ performance and health.

Multicompartmental Lipopolyplex as Vehicle for Antigens and Genes Delivery in Vaccine Formulations

Vector design and its characterization is an area of great interest in current vaccine research. In this article, we have formulated and characterized a multicompartmental lipopolyplex, which associates multiple liposomes and polyplexes in the same complex. These particles allow the simultaneous delivery of lipid or water-soluble antigens associated with genes to the same cell, in much higher amounts than conventional lipopolyplexes. The vector characterization and optimization were carried out using liposomes with entrapped carboxyfluorescein and adapted electrophoretic assays. Two types of lipopolyplexes (containing hydrophilic or lipophilic antigens) were employed to evaluate their interest in vaccination. The lipopolyplex loaded with an extract of water-soluble melanoma proteins proved to efficiently induce humoral response in murine melanoma model, increasing the levels of IgM and IgG. The specificity of the immune response induced by the lipopolyplex was demonstrated in mice with the lipopolyplex containing the GD3 ganglioside lipid antigen, abundant in melanoma cells. The levels of anti-GD3 IgG increased markedly without modifying the expression of humoral antibodies against other gangliosides.

Azide-Terminated RAFT Polymers for Biological Applications

Reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization is a commonly used polymerization methodology to generate synthetic polymers. The products of RAFT polymerization, i.e., RAFT polymers, have been widely employed in several biologically relevant areas, including drug delivery, biomedical imaging, and tissue engineering. In this article, we summarize a synthetic methodology to display an azide group at the chain end of a RAFT polymer, thus presenting a reactive site on the polymer terminus. This platform enables a click reaction between azide-terminated polymers and alkyne-containing molecules, providing a broadly applicable scaffold for chemical and bioconjugation reactions on RAFT polymers. We also highlight applications of these azide-terminated RAFT polymers in fluorophore labeling and for promoting organelle targeting capability. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Synthesis of the azide derivatives of chain transfer agent and radical initiator Basic Protocol 2: Installation of an azide group on the α-end of RAFT polymers Alternate Protocol: Installation of an azide group on the ω-end of RAFT polymers Basic Protocol 3: Click reaction between azide-terminated RAFT polymers and alkyne derivatives.

Redox responsive activity regulation in exceptionally stable supramolecular assembly and co-assembly of a protein

Supramolecular assembly of biomolecules/macromolecules stems from the desire to mimic complex biological structures and functions of living organisms. While DNA nanotechnology is already in an advanced stage, protein assembly is still in its infancy as it is a significantly difficult task due to their large molecular weight, conformational complexity and structural instability towards variation in temperature, pH or ionic strength. This article reports highly stable redox-responsive supramolecular assembly of a protein Bovine serum albumin (BSA) which is functionalized with a supramolecular structure directing unit (SSDU). The SSDU consists of a benzamide functionalized naphthalene-diimide (NDI) chromophore which is attached with the protein by a bio-reducible disulfide linker. The SSDU attached protein (NDI-BSA) exhibits spontaneous supramolecular assembly in water by off-set π-stacking among the NDI chromophores, leading to the formation of spherical nanoparticles (diameter: 150-200 nm). The same SSDU when connected with a small hydrophilic wedge (NDI-1) instead of the large globular protein, exhibits a different π-stacking mode with relatively less longitudinal displacement which results in a fibrillar network and hydrogelation. Supramolecular co-assembly of NDI-BSA and NDI-1 (3 : 7) produces similar π-stacking and an entangled 1D morphology. Both the spherical assembly of NDI-BSA or the fibrillar co-assembly of NDI-BSA + NDI-1 (3 : 7) provide sufficient thermal stability to the protein as its thermal denaturation could be completely surpassed while the secondary structure remained intact. However, the esterase like activity of the protein reduced significantly as a result of such supramolecular assembly indicating limited access by the substrate to the active site of the enzyme located in the confined environment. In the presence of glutathione (GSH), a biologically important tri-peptide, due to the cleavage of the disulfide bond, the protein became free and was released, resulting in fully regaining its enzymatic activity. Such supramolecular assembly provided excellent protection to the protein against enzymatic hydrolysis as the relative hydrolysis was estimated to be <30% for the co-assembled protein with respect to the free protein under identical conditions. Similar to bioactivity, the enzymatic hydrolysis also became prominent after GSH-treatment, confirming that the lack of hydrolysis in the supramolecularly assembled state is indeed related to the confinement of the protein in the nanostructure assembly.

Thiol-Disulfide Exchange Reaction Promoted Highly Efficient Cellular Uptake of Pyridyl Disulfide Appended Nonionic Polymers

The intracellular transport of molecules, macromolecules or materials is a key step in probing cellular structure and function, as well as regulating a plethora of physical and chemical events for treating disease. This communication reveals direct cellular uptake of pyridyl-disulfide (Py-Ds)-conjugated nonionic and biocompatible macromolecules with the aid of rapid exchange of the highly reactive Py-Ds groups with exofacial cell-surface thiols. Confocal microscopy and flow cytometry analysis confirmed highly efficient cellular uptake of Py-Ds-appended polymers (>50 % in 15 min) by avoiding lysosome as a consequence of thiol-disulfide exchange in the cell surface. In contrast, a control polymer lacking the Py-Ds group followed caveolae-mediated endocytosis. Other control polymers containing either the pyridine group (but not disulfide) or the disulfide group (but not pyridine) revealed significantly low cellular uptake, and thus essential role of the highly reactive Py-Ds group was established beyond doubt.

Cationic cross-linked polymers containing labile disulfide and boronic ester linkages for effective triple responsive DNA release

Disruption of DNA carriers triggered by intracellular bio-stimulants has been broadly considered as most convenient strategy for efficient DNA delivery. In this direction, we have designed and synthesized pH, redox and ATP responsive cationic cross-linked polymers (CLPs) having disulfide and reversible boronic ester linkages. These CLPs also contain folate groups that are known for their targeting capability towards cancer cells. Biophysical studies showed that these cationic CLPs exhibited more effective DNA condensation in comparison to cationic linear polymers resulting in the formation of nano-sized polyplexes with sufficient positive zeta potentials and good colloidal stability at neutral pH (∼7.4). More interestingly, the polyplexes prepared from these CLPs have the ability to selectively release complexed DNA under conditions similar to those prevalent in cancer cells such as acidic pH, ATP rich surroundings or presence of glutathione, as revealed by ethidium bromide exclusion assay, agarose gel electrophoresis, AFM measurements, etc. Therefore, these cross-linked polymers have high potential of being effective non-viral gene delivery vehicles.

A Synthetic Carrier of Nucleic Acids Structured as a Neutral Phospholipid Envelope Tightly Assembled on Polyplex Surface

Synthetic carriers of nucleic acids remain inefficient for practical applications due to their insufficient functions as compared with viral vectors developed by evolution. Here, a synthetic carrier is designed to structurally mimic lentivirus, a widely-used viral vector in therapeutic developments, for its neutral phospholipid membrane tightly anchored on the surface of a packed nucleic acid core. Unlike the reported lipopolyplexes of which the surface membrane around the nucleic acid core is formed from charged lipids, the stable attachment of the neutral lipids to each polyplex core in the present system is achieved through preadsorbed micelles of multicarboxyl amphiphilic molecules as lipid bilayer anchors. The adsorbed micelles are under a tension of deformation due to the electrostatic attraction of the head groups to the cationic surface and their "thermodynamic responsibility" to cover the hydrophobic tails in water. When liposomes of neutral phospholipids approach, the hydrophobic tail groups of the adsorbed micelles may insert into the lipid bilayer matrix to induce them to fuse around polyplex and relieve the thermodynamic tension. The formed neutral phospholipid membrane may encapsulate the polyplex core stably, prevent siRNA from prephagocytic leaking and degrading, and immobilize functional agents with increased capacity.

Non-cationic Material Design for Nucleic Acid Delivery

Nucleic acid delivery provides effective options to control intracellular gene expression and protein production. Efficient delivery of nucleic acid typically requires delivery vehicles to facilitate the entry of nucleic acid into cells. Among non-viral delivery vehicles, cationic materials are favored because of their high loading capacity of nucleic acids and prominent cellular uptake efficiency through electrostatic interaction. However, cationic moieties at high dosage tend to induce severe cytotoxicity due to the interference on cell membrane integrity. In contrast, non-cationic materials present alternative delivery approaches with less safety concerns than cationic materials. In this Progress Report, principles of non-cationic material design for nucleic acid delivery are discussed. Examples of such non-cationic platforms are highlighted, including complexation or conjugation with nucleic acids and self-assembled nucleic acid structures.

Disulfide chemistry in responsive aggregation of amphiphilic systems

The dynamic nature of the disulfide bond has enhanced the potential for disulfide based amphiphiles in the emerging biomedical field. Disulfide containing amphiphiles have extensively been used for constructing wide ranging soft nanostructures as potential candidates for delivery of drugs, proteins and genes owing to their degradable nature in the presence of intracellular glutathione (present in a many fold excess compared to the extracellular milieu). This degradable nature of amphiphiles is not only useful to deliver therapeutics but it also eliminates the toxicity issues associated with the carrier after delivery of such therapeutics. Therefore, these bioreducible and biocompatible nano-aggregates inspired researchers to use them as vehicles for therapeutic delivery and as a result the literature of disulfide containing amphiphiles has been intensified. This review article highlights the structural diversity in disulfide containing amphiphilic small molecule and polymeric systems, structural effects on their aqueous aggregation, redox-responsive disassembly and biological applications. Furthermore, the use of disulfide chemistry towards the design of cell penetrating polymers has also been discussed. Finally a brief perspective on some future opportunities of these systems is provided.

Disulfide-containing Macromolecules for Therapeutic Delivery

Development of macromolecules provides applicable platforms for the delivery of therapeutics. In this general overview, we focus on the design principles of synthetic polymers, with disulfide bonds located in either the polymer backbone or side chains. We also discuss the role of disulfide bonds, as well as the remaining questions to better understand their applications in therapeutic delivery systems.

At the Intersection of Biomaterials and Gene Therapy: Progress in Non-viral Delivery of Nucleic Acids

Biomaterials play a critical role in technologies intended to deliver therapeutic agents in clinical settings. Recent explosion of our understanding of how cells utilize nucleic acids has garnered excitement to develop a range of older (e.g., antisense oligonucleotides, plasmid DNA and transposons) and emerging (e.g., short interfering RNA, messenger RNA and non-coding RNAs) nucleic acid agents for therapy of a wide range of diseases. This review will summarize biomaterials-centered advances to undertake effective utilization of nucleic acids for therapeutic purposes. We first review various types of nucleic acids and their unique abilities to deliver a range of clinical outcomes. Using recent advances in T-cell based therapy as a case in point, we summarize various possibilities for utilizing biomaterials to make an impact in this exciting therapeutic intervention technology, with the belief that this modality will serve as a therapeutic paradigm for other types of cellular therapies in the near future. We subsequently focus on contributions of biomaterials in emerging nucleic acid technologies, specifically focusing on the design of intelligent nanoparticles, deployment of mRNA as an alternative to plasmid DNA, long-acting (integrating) expression systems, and in vitro/in vivo expansion of engineered T-cells. We articulate the role of biomaterials in these emerging nucleic acid technologies in order to enhance the clinical impact of nucleic acids in the near future.