Figure 4

Nanocarrier uptake and intracellular siRNA delivery. This illustration shows that uptake of antibody targeted nanocarriers (10–100 nm) occurs via receptor-mediated endocytosis. The key step in cytoplasmic siRNA delivery involves low pH-triggered nanocarrier disassembly and endosomal escape. A ‘smart’ nanocarrier can induce endosomal escape by lysing or fusing with endolysosomes upon acidification. The pH change can also be used to trigger the dissociation of the nanocarrier, therefore releasing the siRNA cargo into the cytosol.