Proteinticle/Gold Core/Shell Nanoparticles for Targeted Cancer Therapy without Nanotoxicity

Abstract

PGCS-NPs (40 nm) with excellent photo-thermal activity are developed, on the surface of which affibody peptides with specific affinity for EGFR and many small gold dots (1-3 nm) are densely presented. The IV-injected PGCS-NPs into EGFR-expressing tumor-bearing mice successfully perform targeted and photothermal therapy of cancer. It seems that the small gold dots released from disassembled PGCS-NPs are easily removed and never cause in vivo toxicity problems.

A novel nanoprobe for the sensitive detection of Francisella tularensis

“…In other words, the lowest concentration detectable with our system is dependent on the performance of the commercial antibody. Recent reports employing target-specific peptides as an alternative to antibodies demonstrate an improved level of antigen binding by ferritin probes [18,21,22]. Similar approaches for the development of F. tularensis-specific peptides should increase the breath and sensitivity of our apoferritin nanoprobes.…”

Nonimmunogenetic Viral Capsid Carrier with Cancer Targeting Activity

“…For this study, we synthesized another type of recombinant HBVC particle (HBVC (aff+)) by substituting the ABP sequence of ABP‐HBVC with the tandem sequence of affibody peptide that has strong and specific affinity for human epidermal growth factor receptor I (EGFR) (Figure S2, Supporting Information). EGFR is overexpressed on the cell surface of a wide range of tumors including U87MG 5, 6. From Figure 3 A,B, compared to Cy5.5‐labeled HBVC (aff−, ABP−) (free of both affibody and ABP), a significantly larger amount of Cy5.5‐labeled ABP‐HBVC and HBVC (aff+) was delivered to the tumor (U87MG), and it is further notable that ABP‐HBVC remained in the tumor for a longer period.…”

Enhanced In Vivo Tumor Detection by Active Tumor Cell Targeting Using Multiple Tumor Receptor‐Binding Peptides Presented on Genetically Engineered Human Ferritin Nanoparticles

“…Recently, protein‐based and nanoscale particles (named protein nanoparticles with stable 3D structure with unique surface architecture), which are produced through intracellular self‐assembly of multiple subunit proteins, have been used for several in vivo biomedical applications, including optical tumor imaging, cancer therapy, and siRNA delivery to tumor cells . They have significant advantages over synthetic nanomaterials: they are formed by constant self‐assembly pattern and hence have well‐oriented surface architectures as well as uniform size and shape; a variety of biologically or chemically functional materials (i.e., functional peptides or proteins, metal nanoparticles, and fluorescent dyes) can be easily conjugated to their surface using genetic modification and/or simple chemical reaction; and finally, they are in general biocompatible and do not cause any in vivo nanotoxicity problems . This suggests that protein nanoparticles holds promise to be used as potent in vivo biomedical agents, e.g., for in vivo tumor targeting and detection, as demonstrated in this study.…”

“…Tumor receptor‐binding peptides have lately attracted considerable attention to enhance tumor cell‐targeting efficiency of in vivo cancer imaging and therapeutic agents owing to their capability of specifically interacting with tumor receptors that play an important role in carcinogenesis, growth, and metastasis of tumors, which include epidermal growth factor receptors 1 and 2, folate receptors, transferrin receptor, integrin αvβ3, etc. Since tumor cells in general expresses several different receptors heterogeneously, use of a particular receptor‐binding peptide sometimes shows limitations in tumor targeting, indicating that such peptides that can simultaneously bind to different tumor receptors (i.e., multiple tumor receptor‐binding peptides) need to be used for enhancing tumor targeting and detection efficiency in vivo .…”