Preparation of Drug‐Loaded Albumin Nanoparticles and Its Application in Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Albumin is derived from plasma and it is the most abundant protein in plasma, which is an ideal material for the preparation of nanoparticles because of its good biocompatibility, noncytotoxicity, nonimmunogenicity, biodegradability, and so on. Besides, albumin can enhance the targeting of drugs, reduce the toxicity of free drugs, and enhance the water solubility of hydrophobic drugs, etc. Drug delivery systems based on albumin nanoparticles are widely used in the medical field. At present, the main methods of preparing albumin nanoparticles are desolvation, self-assembly, thermal gelation, spray-drying, double emulsification, emulsification, Nab-technology, pH coacervation, and so on. Due to the differences of principle and preparation conditions, these methods show different advantages and disadvantages. This review systematically summarizes the latest research progress of albumin nanoparticles about its methods of preparation in past five years, and it also introduces the latest applications in cancer therapy, existing difficulties. Thus, this review can fill the two gaps that few articles focus comprehensively on the application of albumin nanoparticles in tumor therapy and no article clearly points out the difficulties faced in current research of albumin nanoparticles.

Research progress on albumin-based hydrogels: Properties, preparation methods, types and its application for antitumor-drug delivery and tissue engineering

“…While, hydrogels made from albumin have excellent biodegradability properties. Albumin is derived from human or animal plasma, which is naturally degradable and has a half-life of approximately 14 days ( Meng et al, 2022 ). So, hydrogels prepared using albumin can also degrade under physiological conditions.…”

“…Its crystal structure is heart-shaped and has 3 main domains, and each of them can be divided into 2 subdomains (A or B subdomain). Bovine serum albumin (BSA) consists of 583 amino acids and has a molecular weight of approximately 66.43 kDa, whose overall molecular is shaped like a heart and it has the same number of domains or subdomains as HSA ( Meng et al, 2022 ). There are three main functions of serum albumin.…”

Sustainable Biodegradable Biopolymer-Based Nanoparticles for Healthcare Applications

“…The desolvation method is based on using a desolvating (dehydrating) agent, such as ethanol or acetone, which changes the structure of the polymer and reduces its solubility, resulting in the formation of a precipitate of polymeric particles. This method is most commonly used to prepare protein-based nanoparticles [ 51 , 52 , 53 ]. The self-assembly method depends on the formation of biopolymeric nano-systems by self-assembly, both naturally and artificially, through non-covalent bonds [ 54 , 55 ].…”

“…Albumin can be obtained from a variety of sources, including human, bovine, rat, and chicken, with bovine serum albumin (BSA), human serum albumin (HSA), egg white albumin (ovalbumin), etc. Albumin-based nanoparticles can successfully contribute to increased bioavailability, improved pharmacokinetic properties, and enhanced ability to release incorporated drugs at target sites [ 51 , 56 , 71 , 128 , 129 ].…”

Biodegradable Biopolymeric Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications-Challenges and Future Outlook

“…Thus, albumin is a very good candidate for fabricating nanoparticles. Various proteins that are expressed in a higher range in the tumor cells, such as secreted proteins acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), easily and very effectively bind to albumin [ 18 ]. A study has been performed where albumin nanoparticles were employed for the simultaneous delivery of two drugs, ibrutinib (IBR) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), for the treatment of glioma.…”