Journal Article

Hydrogels for RNA delivery

Wallace, Gordon, Talebian, Sepehr, Shi, Jinjun, Mendes, Bárbara B, Zhong, Ruibo, Conde, João, Langer, Robert

2023

Overview

RNA-based therapeutics have shown tremendous promise in disease intervention at the genetic level, and some have been approved for clinical use, including the recent COVID-19 messenger RNA vaccines. The clinical success of RNA therapy is largely dependent on the use of chemical modification, ligand conjugation or non-viral nanoparticles to improve RNA stability and facilitate intracellular delivery. Unlike molecular-level or nanoscale approaches, macroscopic hydrogels are soft, water-swollen three-dimensional structures that possess remarkable features such as biodegradability, tunable physiochemical properties and injectability, and recently they have attracted enormous attention for use in RNA therapy. Specifically, hydrogels can be engineered to exert precise spatiotemporal control over the release of RNA therapeutics, potentially minimizing systemic toxicity and enhancing in vivo efficacy. This Review provides a comprehensive overview of hydrogel loading of RNAs and hydrogel design for controlled release, highlights their biomedical applications and offers our perspectives on the opportunities and challenges in this exciting field of RNA delivery.RNA-based therapeutics hold promise for the treatment of several diseases. This Review provides an overview of hydrogels for RNA delivery, discussing how the chemical nature and physical properties of hydrogels can be explored for tailored RNA loading and release, and highlighting the use of these materials in biomedical applications.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: Biocompatibility / Biodegradation / Biomedical materials / Conjugation / Controlled release / Hydrogels / Nanoparticles / Physical properties / Physiochemistry / Ribonucleic acid / RNA / Toxicity