Recent Advances in Understanding the Protein Corona of Nanoparticles and in the Formulation of “Stealthy” Nanomaterials

Abstract

In the last decades, the staggering progress in nanotechnology brought around a wide and heterogeneous range of nanoparticle-based platforms for the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases. Most of these systems are designed to be administered intravenously. This administration route allows the nanoparticles (NPs) to widely distribute in the body and reach deep organs without invasive techniques. When these nanovectors encounter the biological environment of systemic circulation, a dynamic interplay occurs between the circulating proteins and the NPs, themselves. The set of proteins that bind to the NP surface is referred to as the protein corona (PC). PC has a critical role in making the particles easily recognized by the innate immune system, causing their quick clearance by phagocytic cells located in organs such as the lungs, liver, and spleen. For the same reason, PC defines the immunogenicity of NPs by priming the immune response to them and, ultimately, their immunological toxicity. Furthermore, the protein corona can cause the physical destabilization and agglomeration of particles. These problems induced to consider the PC only as a biological barrier to overcome in order to achieve efficient NP-based targeting. This review will discuss the latest advances in the characterization of PC, development of stealthy NP formulations, as well as the manipulation and employment of PC as an alternative resource for prolonging NP half-life, as well as its use in diagnostic applications.

Transient coating of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles with glutamate for its delivery to and removal from brain nerve terminals

“…The biocorona can consist of hundreds of proteins, which influence the physical and chemical properties of the nanoparticles, such as, size, morphology, aggregation state, hydrophobicity, and permeability. Hence, it is difficult to predict the behavior of nanoparticles in biological systems [ 13 , 18 , 33 ]. Ho et al studied how biomolecules influenced the stability of gold nanoparticles and showed that serum proteins at high concentrations stabilized the nanoparticles, whereas lower concentrations enhanced nanoparticle aggregation.…”

“…The experiments regarding blood plasma and albumin bring insight to one of the essential nanotechnological tasks, that is, the preliminary autologous biocorona formation at the nanoparticle surface before medical application. Autologous biocorona formation is considered to be very promising for advanced nanovesicle technology for cancer treatment [ 13 , 37 ].…”

A review of the current understanding of nanoparticles protein corona composition

“…To fully understand the impact of the protein corona and its importance in the targeted therapeutic systems, it is necessary to determine which proteins are adsorbed on the surface of a particle, their kinetics of adsorption, affinity, and stoichiometry of adsorbtion and desorption [ 19 ]. There are several techniques for separating and identifying plasma proteins that are absorbed on the surface of nanoparticles such as centrifugation, gel filtration, magnetic separation [ 20 ].…”

Nanomaterials and Annelid Immunity: A Comparative Survey to Reveal the Common Stress and Defense Responses of Two Sentinel Species to Nanomaterials in the Environment

“…The newly formed PC provides NPs a biological identity; they can present a discernible molecular pattern that determines the bioavailability, colloidal stability, biodistribution, cellular uptake, toxicity, and clearance from the body. What makes it more complicated is the process of dynamic PC formation, as it also depends on the competition between proteins adsorbed on the surfaces of NPs [ 60 , 61 , 62 ].…”