Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Apr 25;23(5):1008.
doi: 10.3390/molecules23051008.

Nanotechnological Strategies for Protein Delivery

María Rocío Villegas  1   2 , Alejandro Baeza  3   4 , María Vallet-Regí  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Nanotechnological Strategies for Protein Delivery

María Rocío Villegas et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

The use of therapeutic proteins plays a fundamental role in the treatment of numerous diseases. The low physico-chemical stability of proteins in physiological conditions put their function at risk in the human body until they reach their target. Moreover, several proteins are unable to cross the cell membrane. All these facts strongly hinder their therapeutic effect. Nanomedicine has emerged as a powerful tool which can provide solutions to solve these limitations and improve the efficacy of treatments based on protein administration. This review discusses the advantages and limitations of different types of strategies employed for protein delivery, such as PEGylation, transport within liposomes or inorganic nanoparticles or their in situ encapsulation.

Keywords: PEGylation; liposomes; nanoparticles; polymeric nanocapsules; protein delivery system; protein therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scheme of different protein delivery systems.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scheme of protein adsorbed onto peptide coated gold nanoparticles to improve cell internalization by endocytic pathway.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scheme of the encapsulation process.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scheme of nanomotors of mesoporous silica nanoparticles with catalase nanocapsules.
Figure 5
Figure 5
“Stimulation” and “diassembly” of degradable nanocapsules.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Collagenase nanocapsules to improve the penetration of drug loaded nanocarriers inside tumors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Nitiss J.L. DNA topoisomerase II and its growing repertoire of biological functions. Nat. Rev. Cancer. 2009;9:327–337. doi: 10.1038/nrc2608. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Newton A.C. Protein kinase C: Structure, function, and regulation. J. Biol. Chem. 1995;270:28495–28498. doi: 10.1074/jbc.270.48.28495. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Childers N.K., Bruce M.G., McGhee J.R. Molecular Mechanisms of Immunoglobulin a Defense. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 1989;43:503–536. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.43.100189.002443. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Puigserver P., Rhee J., Donovan J., Walkey C.J., Yoon J.C., Oriente F., Kitamura Y., Altomonte J., Dong H., Accili D., et al. Insulin-regulated hepatic gluconeogenesis through FOXO1–PGC-1α interaction. Nature. 2003;423:550–555. doi: 10.1038/nature01667. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vassart G., Dumont J.E. The Thyrotropin Receptor and the Regulation of Thyrocyte Function and Growth. Endocr. Rev. 1992;13:596–611. doi: 10.1210/edrv-13-3-596. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources