International journal of pharmaceutics
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RNA interference is an effective method to achieve highly specific gene regulation. However, the commonly used cationic liposomes have poor biocompatibility, which may lead to systematic siRNA delivery of no avail. PEGylation is a good strategy in shielding the positive charge of cationic liposomes, but the enhanced serum stability is often in company with compromised cellular uptake and endosome escape. ⋯ In contrast with normal PEGylation, hyaluronic acid and PEG co-modified PEG-HA-NP provided comparable cellular uptake and P-glycoprotein downregulation efficacy in MCF-7/ADR cells compared with Lipofectamine RNAiMAX and naked NP regardless of its anionic charged surface. Because of its good biocompatibility in serum, PEG-HA-NP possessed the best tumor accumulation, cellular uptake and subsequently the strongest P-glycoprotein silencing capability in tumor bearing mice compared with naked NP and HA-NP after i.v. injection, with a 34% P-glycoprotein downregulation. Therefore, PEG-HA coated liposomal complex was demonstrated to be a promising siRNA delivery system in adjusting solid tumor P-glycoprotein expression, which may become a potential carrier in reversing MDR for breast cancer therapy.