Hybrids of carbon dots with subunit B of ricin toxin for enhanced immunomodulatory activity

Abstract

Although Ricin toxin binding subunit B (RTB) can promote the activation of macrophages and modulate the cell-mediated immunity, its applications are severely limited due to the intrinsic properties of proteins, like poor stability and low efficacy of cellular uptake. In this work, the stable nanoparticles were prepared by supramolecular assembling of carbon dots (CDs) and RTB. The formed CDs-RTB possesses robust stability and can protect RTB against enzymatic hydrolysis. More importantly, CDs-RTB can promote macrophages proliferation, improve the generation of NO, IL-6 and TNF-α in RAW264.7 cells and increase the expression of mRNA, indicating the enhanced immunomodulatory activity of CDs-RTB. This work highlights the potential of using CDs as a simple and stable platform to assemble RTB and effectively promotes the application of RTB as the immunostimulant.

Keywords: Carbon dots; Immunomodulatory activity; Macrophage; Nanoparticle; RTB.