In vivo Protein Corona Formation: Characterizations, Effects on Engineered Nanoparticles' Biobehaviors, and Applications.

Xue Bai,Jiali Wang,Gaoxing Su,Qingxin Mu

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2021.646708

Abstract

Understanding the basic interactions between engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) and biological systems is essential for evaluating ENPs’ safety and developing better nanomedicine. Profound interactions between ENPs and biomolecules such as proteins are inevitable to occur when ENPs are administered or exposed to biological systems, for example, through intravenous injection, oral, or respiration. As a key component of these interactions, protein corona (PC) is immediately formed surrounding the outlayer of ENPs. PC formation is crucial because it gives ENPs a new biological identity by altering not only the physiochemical properties, but also the biobehaviors of ENPs. In the past two decades, most investigations about PC formation were carried out with in vitro systems which could not represent the true events occurring within in vivo systems. Most recently, studies of in vivo PC formation were reported, and it was found that the protein compositions and structures were very different from those formed in vitro. Herein, we provide an in-time review of the recent investigations of this in vivo PC formation of ENPs. In this review, commonly used characterization methods and compositions of in vivo PC are summarized firstly. Next, we highlight the impacts of the in vivo PC formation on absorption, blood circulation, biodistribution, metabolism, and toxicity of administered ENPs. We also introduce the applications of modulating in vivo PC formation in nanomedicine. We further discuss the challenges and future perspectives.

Highlights

Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) with unique physical and chemical properties have been widely developed in the fields of energy (Pomerantseva et al, 2019; Wang et al, 2020), electronics (Kamyshny and Magdassi, 2019), materials (Wang et al, 2019), biomedicine (Lee et al, 2012; Pelaz et al, 2017; Wong et al, 2020), food and agriculture (Peters et al, 2016; Lowry et al, 2019), and so on
PCrelated biological effects are dependent on their compositions and structures
As compositions of protein corona (PC) significantly change over time in different cells, tissues, and organs, the spatial-temporal specific PC information still cannot be obtained

Summary

Introduction

Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) with unique physical and chemical properties have been widely developed in the fields of energy (Pomerantseva et al, 2019; Wang et al, 2020), electronics (Kamyshny and Magdassi, 2019), materials (Wang et al, 2019), biomedicine (Lee et al, 2012; Pelaz et al, 2017; Wong et al, 2020), food and agriculture (Peters et al, 2016; Lowry et al, 2019), and so on. There are significant differences between in vitro and in vivo PC formation, quantities of adsorbed protein, and the composition and structures (Amici et al, 2017; Wang M. et al, 2018). The types of unique proteins identified in vivo formed coronas of bare-, PEG-, and monoclonal antibody targeted-liposomes NPs were 453, 478, and 511, respectively (Hadjidemetriou et al, 2015).

Results

Conclusion