Great work Matthias and Lydia, congrats!!
The paper describes a new, versatile method for the preparation of protein-based nanoparticles for the delivery of therapeutics.
“Nanoparticle Assembly of Surface-Modified Proteins”
M. Fach, L. Radi, P. R. Wich
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138 (45), 14820–14823. (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b06243)
Abstract:
Nature’s biomaterials such as peptides and proteins represent a valuable source of highly defined macromolecules. Herein we developed a nanoparticle drug delivery system based on the assembly of surface-modified proteins that can be transferred into organic solvents and represent the structural material of the carrier system. The particles are prepared by an oil-in-water nanoemulsion technique without the need of additional denaturation or cross-linking steps for stabilization. We achieve the necessary lipophilic solubility switch of the protein material by high surface PEGylation under conservation of the native three-dimensional protein structure. This study focuses on lysozyme as model enzyme for the preparation of empty and doxorubicin-loaded nanoparticles with an average diameter of 100 nm. The particles are stable in physiological buffers and only release their therapeutic payload into cancer cells after a time-dependent cellular uptake. We also transferred this approach to various proteins, exemplifying the universal applicability of our new preparation method for protein-based nanoparticles.
Btw, we made it also on the cover of the “print version”! (Volume 138, Issue 45) Do you like our “trippy design” :)
http://pubs.acs.org/toc/jacsat/138/45