A CHITOSAN BASED POLYMER CONJUGATE AND A METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME

摘要

A chitosan based cationic polymer conjugate is provided to increase the efficiency of delivering target nucleic acid medicines by forming a conjugate with a negatively charged nucleic acid based medicine such as plasmid DNA and siRNA and be usefully used as an efficient transporter administering the nucleic acid based medicines in vivo or in a cell by decreasing cytotoxicity. A chitosan based cationic polymer conjugate includes polyamine covalently bonded to an amine group of chitosan, wherein the polyamine is polyarginine, polyhistidine or polylysine. A transporter composition for delivering nucleic acid based medicines in vivo or in a cell comprises the chitosan based cationic polymer conjugate and a nucleic acid based medicine such as siRNA(s) or a plasmid gene. A method for preparing the chitosan based cationic polymer conjugate comprises a step of mixing and agitating chitosan and polyamine in the presence of a carboxyl coupling agent in an aqueous solution. Further, a mole rate of chitosan : polyamine is 1:1 to 1:10.