A photo-inducible protein-inorganic nanoparticle assembly for active targeted tumour theranostics

Nanoscale. 2019 Mar 28;11(13):6136-6144. doi: 10.1039/c9nr01120j.

Abstract

The assembly of protein-inorganic nanoparticles is an important yet challenging approach that is utilized to develop functional materials in numerous areas, such as bio-catalysis, drug delivery, and biosensing. In this study, we report on a facile, photo-inducible self-assembly method to generate protein-inorganic hybrid nanoplatforms. More specifically, photo-treated disulfide bond rich proteins of lysozyme (LYS) were able to be used as host materials in order to encapsulate nanoparticles (i.e., as-synthesized hydrophobic NIR quantum dots (QDs)) and anti-cancer small molecule drugs (i.e., paclitaxel (PTX)), constructing functional theranostic protein-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles. The modification of the functional polymer of cRGD-PEG contributes to the active tumour targeting characteristic of this protein-inorganic nanocarrier. This novel PTX loaded protein-inorganic hybrid nanoplatform showed high tumour homing accumulation as well as effective tumour inhibition. We believe that this general approach represents a new direction for the development of a photo-induced assembly of protein-inorganic nanoparticles towards versatile applications in both materials science and biomedical fields.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Drug Carriers / chemistry*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force
  • Muramidase / chemistry*
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Neoplasms / pathology
  • Oligopeptides / chemistry
  • Paclitaxel / chemistry
  • Paclitaxel / metabolism
  • Paclitaxel / pharmacology
  • Paclitaxel / therapeutic use
  • Polyethylene Glycols / chemistry
  • Quantum Dots / chemistry
  • Theranostic Nanomedicine
  • Tissue Distribution
  • Transplantation, Heterologous
  • Ultraviolet Rays*

Substances

  • Drug Carriers
  • Oligopeptides
  • Polyethylene Glycols
  • arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid
  • Muramidase
  • Paclitaxel