Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a label-free detection method which has emerged during the last two decades as a suitable and reliable platform in clinical analysis for biomolecular interactions. The technique makes it possible to measure interactions in real-time with high sensitivity and without the need of labels. This review article discusses a wide range of applications in optical-based sensors using either surface plasmon resonance (SPR) or surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRI). Here we summarize the principles, provide examples, and illustrate the utility of SPR and SPRI through example applications from the biomedical, proteomics, genomics and bioengineering fields. In addition, SPR signal amplification strategies and surface functionalization are covered in the review.

Targeted drug delivery using nanoparticles can minimize the side effects of conventional pharmaceutical agents and enhance their efficacy. However, translating nanoparticle-based agents into clinical applications still remains a challenge due to the difficulty in regulating interactions on the interfaces between nanoparticles and biological systems. Here, we present a targeting strategy for nanoparticles incorporated with a supramolecularly pre-coated recombinant fusion protein in which HER2-binding affibody combines with glutathione-S-transferase. Once thermodynamically stabilized in preferred orientations on the nanoparticles, the adsorbed fusion proteins as a corona minimize interactions with serum proteins to prevent the clearance of nanoparticles by macrophages, while ensuring systematic targeting functions in vitro and in vivo. This study provides insight into the use of the supramolecularly built protein corona shield as a targeting agent through regulating the interfaces between nanoparticles and biological systems.

Members of the ferritin superfamily are multi-subunit cage-like proteins with a hollow interior cavity. These proteins possess three distinct surfaces, i.e. interior and exterior surfaces of the cages and interface between subunits. The interior cavity provides a unique reaction environment in which the interior reaction is separated from the external environment. In biology the cavity is utilized for sequestration of irons and biomineralization as a mechanism to render Fe inert and sequester it from the external environment. Material scientists have been inspired by this system and exploited a range of ferritin superfamily proteins as supramolecular templates to encapsulate nanoparticles and/or as well-defined building blocks for fabrication of higher order assembly. Besides the interior cavity, the exterior surface of the protein cages can be modified without altering the interior characteristics. This allows us to deliver the protein cages to a targeted tissue in vivo or to achieve controlled assembly on a solid substrate to fabricate higher order structures. Furthermore, the interface between subunits is utilized for manipulating chimeric self-assembly of the protein cages and in the generation of symmetry-broken Janus particles. Utilizing these ideas, the ferritin superfamily has been exploited for development of a broad range of materials with applications from biomedicine to electronics.

Protein cage nanoparticles are excellent candidates for use as multifunctional delivery nanoplatforms because they are built from biomaterials and have a well-defined structure. A novel protein cage nanoparticle, encapsulin, isolated from thermophilic bacteria Thermotoga maritima, is prepared and developed as a versatile template for targeted delivery nanoplatforms through both chemical and genetic engineering. It is pivotal for multifunctional delivery nanoplatforms to have functional plasticity and versatility to acquire targeting ligands, diagnostic probes, and drugs simultaneously. Encapsulin is genetically engineered to have unusual heat stability and to acquire multiple functionalities in a precisely controlled manner. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell binding peptide (SP94-peptide, SFSIIHTPILPL) is chosen as a targeting ligand and displayed on the surface of engineered encapsulin (Encap_loophis42C123) through either chemical conjugation or genetic insertion. The effective and selective targeted delivery of SP94-peptide displaying encapsulin (SP94-Encap_loophis42C123) to HepG2 cells is confirmed by fluorescent microscopy imaging. Aldoxorubicin (AlDox), an anticancer prodrug, is chemically loaded to SP94-Encap_loophis42C123 via thiol-maleimide Michael-type addition, and the efficacy of the delivered drugs is evaluated with a cell viability assay. SP94-Encap_loophis42C123-AlDox shows comparable killing efficacy with that of free drugs without the platform's own cytotoxicity. Functional plasticity and versatility of the engineered encapsulin allow us to introduce targeting ligands, diagnostic probes, and therapeutic reagents simultaneously, providing opportunities to develop multifunctional delivery nanoplatforms.

We synthesized a boroxole-containing styrenic monomer that can be polymerized by the reversible addition-fragmentation and chain transfer (RAFT) method. Poly(styreneboroxole) (PBOx) and its block copolymers with a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as a hydrophilic block displayed binding to monosaccharides in phosphate buffer at neutral pH, as quantified by Wang's competitive binding experiments. By virtue of a controlled radical polymerization, we were able to adjust the degree of polymerization of the PBOx block to yield sugar-responsive block copolymers that self-assembled into a variety of nanostructures including spherical and cylindrical micelles and polymer vesicles (polymersomes). Polymersomes of these block copolymers exhibited monosaccharide-responsive disassembly in a neutral-pH medium. We demonstrated the possibility of using these polymersomes as sugar-responsive delivery vehicles for insulin in neutral phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). Encapsulated insulin could be released from the polymersomes only in the presence of sugars under physiologically relevant pH conditions.

Viral capsids are dynamic macromolecular machines which self-assemble and undergo concerted conformational changes during their life cycle. We have taken advantage of the inherent structural flexibility of viral capsids and generated two morphologically different types of viral nanoplatforms from the bacteriophage P22 capsids. Their interior surfaces were genetically manipulated for site-specific attachment of a biotin linker. The extent of internal modifications in each capsid form was characterized by high-resolution mass spectrometry and the analyses revealed that the reactivity of the genetically introduced residues located on the internal surface changes according to the structural transformation of the capsid. Internally modified capsids having 10 nm diameter pores at the 12 icosahedral vertices, so-called wiffle-balls (WB), exhibited the capability to entrap the large tetrameric protein complex streptavidin via the biotin linker anchored onto the interior surface of the WB.

Analogous to the complex membranes found in cellular organelles, such as the endoplasmic reticulum, the inverse cubic mesophases of lipids and their colloidal forms (cubosomes) possess internal networks of water channels arranged in crystalline order, which provide a unique nanospace for membrane-protein crystallization and guest encapsulation. Polymeric analogues of cubosomes formed by the direct self-assembly of block copolymers in solution could provide new polymeric mesoporous materials with a three-dimensionally organized internal maze of large water channels. Here we report the self-assembly of amphiphilic dendritic-linear block copolymers into polymer cubosomes in aqueous solution. The presence of precisely defined bulky dendritic blocks drives the block copolymers to form spontaneously highly curved bilayers in aqueous solution. This results in the formation of colloidal inverse bicontinuous cubic mesophases. The internal networks of water channels provide a high surface area with tunable surface functional groups that can serve as anchoring points for large guests such as proteins and enzymes.

Retinoid X receptors (RXRs) are ligand-dependent nuclear receptors, which are activated by the potent agonist 9-cis retinoic acid (9cRA). 9cRA binds to the ligand binding domain (LBD) of RXRs, and recruits coactivator proteins for gene transcription. Using isothermal titration calorimetry, the binding of a 13-mer coactivator peptide, GRIP-1, to the hRXRα-LBD homodimer complex containing 9cRA (hRXRα-LBD:9cRA:GRIP-1) is reported between 20° and 37 °C. ΔG is temperature independent (−8.5 kcal/mol), and GRIP-1 binding is driven by ΔH (−9.2 kcal/mol) at 25 °C. ΔC p is large and negative (−401 cal/mol-K). The crystal structure of hRXRα-LBD: 9cRA:GRIP-1 is reported at 2.05 Å. When the structures of hRXRα-LBD:9cRA:GRIP-1 and hRXRα-LBD:9cRA (1FBY) homodimers are compared, E453 and E456 on helix 12 bury and form ionic interactions with GRIP-1. R302 on helix 4 realigns to form new salt bridges to both E453 and E456. F277 (helix 3), F437 (helix 11), and F450 (helix 12) move toward the hydrophobic interior. The changes in the near-UV spectrum at 260 nm of the hRXRα-LBD: 9cRA:GRIP-1 support this structural change. Helix 11 tilts toward helix 12 by ≈ 1 Å modifying the ring conformation of 9cRA. Hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectroscopy indicate GRIP-1 binding to hRXRα-LBD:9cRA significantly decreases the exchange rates for peptides containing helices 3 (F277), 4 (R302), 11 (F437) and 12 (E453; E456). The structural changes and loss of dynamics of the GRIP-1 bound structure are used to interpret the energetics of coactivator peptide binding to the agonist-bound hRXRα-LBD. -205-934-8285. Fax: 1-205-934-2543. muccio@uab.edu. # These authors contributed equally to this work.The atomic coordinates and structure factors (code 3OAP) have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank, Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (http://www.rcsb.org/). Supporting Information AvailableThe ITC measurements of GRIP-1 coactivator peptide binding to hRXRα-LBD:9cRA at 20, 25, 30, and 37 °C are presented in Figure S1, and the ITC measurement of -1 coactivator peptide binding to hRXRα-LBD:9cRA at 25 °C in HEPES Buffer is presented in Figure S2. The interaction between E456 of RXR and H688 of GRIP-1 observed in our crystal structure is presented in Figure S3. The deuterium incorporation measurements of all peptide fragments are provided in Figure S4. The contact measurements between hRXRα-LBD and GRIP-1 coactivator peptide or 9-cis-retinoic acid are provided in Table S1 and Table S2, respectively. The optimized extinction coefficients used in our near-UV-Vis difference simulation in Figure 4 are presented in Table S3. Table S4 provides the complete list of 38 HDX MS peptides and their observed differences in the various complexes. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptBiochemistry. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 June 8. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNuclear ...