Alginate Hydrogel Microbeads With Different Mesh Structures Enable Controlled Release Of Adeno-Associated Virus For Gene Therapy

This paper proposes the control of adeno-associated virus (AAV) release from calcium alginate hydrogel (Ca-Alg.) microbeads with different mesh structures. We found that Ca-Alg. with many cross-linking points have smaller mesh structures than those of normal Ca-Alg. This difference enabled the controlled release of AAV from Ca-Alg. according to the mesh size that can physically trap the AAV particles (~20 nm). As the carriers of AAV, Ca-Alg. microbeads using different mesh structures were fabricated and evaluated the release of AAV. In addition, Janus shaped Ca-Alg. microbeads (Janus microbeads) with different mesh structures between hemispheres were demonstrated to design the precisely controlled AAV release. Controlled release of AAV from Ca-Alg. microbeads with optimized mesh structures could be a biocompatible release system for gene therapy.