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Comparison of Transfection Efficiency of Nonviral Gene Transfer Reagents

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Abstract

This study compared six commercially available reagents (Arrest-In, ExpressFect, FuGENE HD, jetPEI, Lipofectamine 2000, and SuperFect) for gene transfection. We examined the efficiency and cytotoxicity using nine different cell lines (MC3T3-E1 mouse preosteoblasts, PT-30 human epithelial precancer cells, C3H10T1/2 mouse stem cells, MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, HeLa human cervical cancer, C2C12 mouse myoblasts, Hep G2 human hepatocellular carcinoma, 4T1 mouse mammary carcinoma, and HCT116 human colorectal carcinoma), and primary cells (HEKn human epidermal keratinocytes) with two different plasmid DNAs encoding luciferase or β-galactosidase in the presence or absence of serum. Maximal transfection efficiency in MC3T3-E1, C3H10T1/2, HeLa, C2C12, Hep G2, and HCT116 was seen using FuGENE HD, in PT-30, 4T1, and HEKn was seen using Arrest-In, and in MCF-7 was seen using jetPEI. Determination of cytotoxicity showed that the largest amount of viable cells was found after transfection with jetPEI and ExpressFect. These results suggest that FuGENE HD is the most preferred transfection reagent for many cell lines, followed by Arrest-In and jetPEI. These results may be useful for improving nonviral gene and cell therapy applications.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Mani Alikhani for providing the MC3T3-E1 and C3H10T1/2 cells, Dr. Peter Sacks for the PT-30 cells, and Dr. Xi Huang for providing the MCF-7, HeLa, C2C12, Hep G2, 4T1, and HCT116 cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Prosthodontics, New York University College of Dentistry, 345 East 24th Street, 4W, New York, NY, 10010, USA

    Seiichi Yamano & Jisen Dai

  2. Department of Pediatric Dentistry, New York University College of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA

    Amr M. Moursi

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  1. Seiichi Yamano
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Correspondence to Seiichi Yamano.

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Yamano, S., Dai, J. & Moursi, A.M. Comparison of Transfection Efficiency of Nonviral Gene Transfer Reagents. Mol Biotechnol 46, 287–300 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-010-9302-5

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