Electrospun-Fibrous-Architecture-Mediated Non-Viral Gene Therapy Drug Delivery in Regenerative Medicine

Abstract

Gene-based therapy represents the latest advancement in medical biotechnology. The principle behind this innovative approach is to introduce genetic material into specific cells and tissues to stimulate or inhibit key signaling pathways. Although enormous progress has been achieved in the field of gene-based therapy, challenges connected to some physiological impediments (e.g., low stability or the inability to pass the cell membrane and to transport to the desired intracellular compartments) still obstruct the exploitation of its full potential in clinical practices. The integration of gene delivery technologies with electrospun fibrous architectures represents a potent strategy that may tackle the problems of stability and local gene delivery, being capable to promote a controlled and proficient release and expression of therapeutic genes in the targeted cells, improving the therapeutic outcomes. This review aims to outline the impact of electrospun-fibrous-architecture-mediated gene therapy drug delivery, and it emphatically discusses the latest advancements in their formulation and the therapeutic outcomes of these systems in different fields of regenerative medicine, along with the main challenges faced towards the translation of promising academic results into tangible products with clinical application.