Ultrasound-mediated gene delivery into hard-to-transfect KG-1 cells

In this paper, we explore the possibility of increasing the transfection rate of hard-to-transfect cells (such as KG-1 cells) using ultrasound-mediated gene delivery (USD). Single application ultrasound induced as well as the synergistic properties of ultrasound with commonly used transfection reagents and repeated sessions USD were investigated and evaluated using GFP plasmid. KG-1 cells were not transfected by combining a commonly used transfection reagent and USD. However, repeated ultrasound-mediated treatments were able to increase transfection rate to 15% with a viability of 97%, as compared to 2% with the transfection reagent, Lipofectamine, alone.