Abstract
Proteins and peptides, built from precisely defined amino acid sequences, are an important class of biomolecules that play a vital role in most biological functions. Preparation of nanostructures through functionalization of natural, hydrophilic proteins/peptides with synthetic polymers or upon self-assembly of all-synthetic amphiphilic copolypept(o)ides and amino acid-containing polymers enables access to novel protein-mimicking biomaterials with superior physicochemical properties and immense biorelevant scope. In recent years, polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) has been established as an efficient and versatile alternative method to existing self-assembly procedures for the reproducible development of block copolymer nano-objects in situ at high concentrations and, thus, provides an ideal platform for engineering protein-inspired nanomaterials. In this review article, the different strategies employed for direct construction of protein-, (poly)peptide-, and amino acid-based nanostructures via PISA are described with particular focus on the characteristics of the developed block copolymer assemblies, as well as their utilization in various pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.
Highlights
Proteins and peptides are essential components in nature’s toolkit, since they are responsible for the proper function, structural organization, and protection of cells, organs and tissues
polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) has attracted immense research interest for the development of self-assembled block copolymer nanostructures for various applications owing to its numerous advantages over conventional self-assembly techniques
An increasing number of PISA studies have focused on protein–polymer hybrid nano-objects, whereby hydrophilic proteins/enzymes are typically functionalized with radical polymerization-initiating moieties, followed by their chain-extension with selected monomers known to undergo PISA in aqueous media
Summary
Proteins and peptides are essential components in nature’s toolkit, since they are responsible for the proper function, structural organization, and protection of cells, organs and tissues. PISA is extremely versatile: numerous monomer classes can be polymerized via common controlled/living polymerization techniques [29] in a range of polymerization media, such as water [23] and organic solvents [24]. These undoubted advantages of the PISA process have been utilized to develop polymeric formulations for various applications, including drug delivery [30,31], cell/organelle mimicry [32–34], oil additives for friction [35] and viscosity [36,37] modification, chemical sensing [38,39], latex-based films [40], Pickering emulsifiers [41,42], cryopreservation [43,44], and stem cell storage [45], among others. The main characteristics of these biomimetic formulations and their great potential in a range of biotechnological and biomedical applications will be discussed in detail in this review article
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