Synthesis of Beta-glucan Nanoparticles for the Delivery of Single Strand DNA

The polysaccharide and biopolymer, beta-glucan, has been used for the purpose of enhancing immunity and its use as a drug delivery system has been diversified. Betaglucan, a triple helix structure, is unstructured to single strands by heat, DMSO or NaOH. Synthesis of beta-glucan nanoparticles using DMSO and water is easy and fast, but its size is limited. In this study, beta-glucan nanoparticles (GluNPs) were prepared by slicing beta-glucan into low molecular weight using various concentrations of Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). TFA-treated GluNPs showed a minimum size of 250 nm. In addition, there is no abnormality in the characteristic of the functional groups of the nanoparticle surface after the acid treatment allowing GluNPs use in immune cell activation. Also, the efficiency of GluNPs as a drug or DNA carrier was confirmed by inserting ssDNA into the glucan triple helix structure. Beta-glucan nanoparticles developed in this study would be expected to be used for genetic material delivery and immune response enhancement.