How protein coronas determine the fate of engineered nanoparticles in biological environment

Abstract

Nanomedicine is a booming medical field that utilises nanoparticles (NPs) for the development of medicines, medical devices, and diagnostic tools. The behaviour of NPs in vivo may be quite complex due to their interactions with biological molecules. These interactions in biological fluids result in NPs being enveloped by dynamic protein coronas, which serve as an interface between NPs and their environment (blood, cell, tissue). How will the corona interact with this environment will depend on the biological, chemical, and physical properties of NPs, the properties of the proteins that make the corona, as well as the biological environment. This review summarises the main characteristics of protein corona and describes its dynamic nature. It also presents the most common analytical methods to study the corona, including examples of protein corona composition for the most common NPs used in biomedicine. This knowledge is necessary to design NPs that will create a corona with a desired efficiency and safety in clinical use.

Surface Stabilization Affects Toxicity of Silver Nanoparticles in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

“…Colloidal stability and behavior of these AgNPs in different biological media were subject of our previous studies and reported elsewhere [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. The presence of proteins in the media provided excellent colloidal stability regardless of the chemical composition, surface structure and surface charge of AgNPs due to the protein corona formation on the nanosurface [ 27 ]. As hPBMC isolates were dispersed in PBS before treatment, stability of AgNPs was inspected in this medium.…”

Protein Corona Modulates Distribution and Toxicological Effects of Silver Nanoparticles In Vivo

“…An important consequence of NPs interaction with biological environment is the formation of a biomolecular corona on their surface . In the resulting corona‐NPs complex, NPs may undergo different changes by means of their adsorption behavior, accumulation, degradation, agglomeration, dissolution, distribution, and clearance, but, more importantly, proteins and biomolecules from the corona may suffer from conformational changes, restructuration, and modification of their functional profile . The most studied corona‐NPs complexes are those related to the protein corona owing to the biological relevance of proteins .…”

Mapping and identification of soft corona proteins at nanoparticles and their impact on cellular association

“…Upon exposure to biofluids, the NPs acquire a "protein corona" due to the adherence of host proteins on the NPs surface. The composition of the corona is dependent on the types of nanoparticles and the biological sources [1][2][3] , and considered to provide the NPs with a "biological" identity 4 that affects stability, circulation time, and cellular uptake/interactions, and therefore has a strong impact on the functional role for the NPs [5][6][7][8][9][10] .…”