Protein‐based nanoplatforms for tumor imaging and therapy

Abstract

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death all over the world. The development of nanoplatform provides a promising strategy for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. As the foundation of the nanoplatform, the composition of nanocarrier decides the basic properties. Protein exists in all kinds of life and participates in any life activities, having great potentials to serve as a nanocarrier because of its excellent biocompatibility, abundance of functional groups, and inherent biological activity. As a result, protein‐based nanoplatforms have evoked extensive interests for tumor imaging and therapy. This review presents the latest progresses on the advancement of protein‐based nanoplatforms, introducing the most common protein nanocarriers (such as human/bovine serum albumin, ferritin, human transferrin) thoroughly including their physiochemical properties and specific applications. Also, other kinds of protein are briefly involved. Finally, the prospects and challenges of the development of protein‐based nanoplatforms are summarized. This article is categorized under: Biology‐Inspired Nanomaterials > Protein and Virus‐Based Structures Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease

Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery System: A Patient-Friendly Chemotherapy for Oncology

“…(3) Amino acid residues constituting the basic unit of protein have various functional groups (such as -COOH and -SH) that can be used in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs, which imparts function expansibility to protein. 80 With paclitaxel (PTX) preparation (Abraxane) based on human serum albumin (HSA) obtained FDA approval in 2005, 81 HSA has been widely studied as a chemotherapeutic drug carrier. Human serum albumin is the main component in serum, consisting of 585 amino acid residues, with a molecular weight of 66.5 kDa.…”

Preparing (Metalla)carboranes for Nanomedicine

“…[54] Structural characterisation of the final nanoproduct is typically based on a combination of techniques, for example NMR spectroscopy, AFM, SEM, TEM, SERS, when a metallic core is present, HPLC and zeta potential. A detailed discussion of synthetic design strategies for NP-based therapeutics is beyond the scope of this review; therefore, the reader is referred to the reviews by Chugh et al (2018), [102] Liang et al (2020), [168] Yang (2016), [169] and Arranja, Pathak et al (2017), [170] for general synthetic approaches in nanomedicinal chemistry. For nano-encapsulation strategies for (metalla)carboranes and borates, numerous publications by Matějíček (polymeric and copolymeric matrices), [110,111,113] Nakamura (liposomes), [171,172] Hosmane, [143] Viñas and Teixidor (metallic NPs) [173,174] and coworkers, among others, can be recommended.…”

“…(2018), [102] Liang et al. (2020), [168] Yang (2016), [169] and Arranja, Pathak et al. (2017), [170] for general synthetic approaches in nanomedicinal chemistry.…”

Advanced Biomimetic Nanomaterials for Non-invasive Disease Diagnosis

“…Protein-based nanomaterials (PBNs) have good biocompatibility and abundant functional groups that can bind various functional molecules along with other metal ions. PBNs also have high bioactivity, which means that they can often be used as carriers without further surface modification (Zhang and Wang, 2019;Liang and Chen, 2020). PBNs combine the advantages of nanomaterials related to size and surface chemistry with the advantages provided by the physical and chemical properties of proteins (Zhang and Wang, 2019).…”

“…Various proteins, such as human serum albumin, bovine serum albumin (BSA), ferritin, and transferrin, are being studied to construct PBNs, many of which are based on protein cages. These PBNs may find wide applications in disease imaging in the future (Liang and Chen, 2020).…”