Abstract: An easy and favorable approach has been developed to prepare hydrophobic-driven PEGylated polyplexes via self-organizing blend of PEG-containing amphiphilic polymer. Poly(ethylene glycol) cholesterol ether and PEO-PPO-PEO was chosen as an amphiphilic polymer respectively. The results indicate that different amphiphilic polymers have great influence on the stability and transfection efficiency of polyplexes under physiological condition. Hydrophobic interaction is the key point to fabricate stable PEGylated polyplexes. By selecting the proper amphiphilic polymer, stable PEGylated polyplexes were fabricated successfully to improve stability and transfection efficiency at a physiological salt concentration. This facile approach to prepare the PEGylated polyplexes via self-organizing blend may have great potential in non-viral gene vector research and application.

Key words: Non-viral gene vector, Supramolecular assembly, Self-organizing blend