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Nanoparticles

Pushed off target with proteins

Nature Nanotechnology volume 8, pages 79–80 (2013)Cite this article

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The formation of a protein corona around the surface of a nanoparticle can alter its targeting capabilities.

In a biological environment proteins bind to the surface of nanoparticles and form what is known as a protein corona. This corona can alter the properties of the nanoparticles and therefore needs to be taken into account when characterizing the biological interactions of nanoparticles1 and assessing the potential clinical relevance of new multifunctional nanomaterials. One intended application of such nanomaterials is to carry drugs or therapies to diseased cells and uses nanoparticles that are coated with biomolecules that can target specific receptors on cells. Writing in Nature Nanotechnology, Eugene Mahon, Kenneth Dawson and colleagues at University College Dublin have now shown that protein coronas can adversely affect the targeting ability of these nanoparticles2.

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Figure 1: Schematic diagram of transferrin-conjugated nanoparticles targeting transferrin receptors in the presence of serum proteins2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rogério Gaspar is at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, 1649-003, Portugal

    Rogério Gaspar

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  1. Rogério Gaspar
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Correspondence to Rogério Gaspar.

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Gaspar, R. Pushed off target with proteins. Nature Nanotech 8, 79–80 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.11

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