title: Fabrication of a nanocarrier system through self-assembly of plasma protein and its tumor targeting.
abstract: Human serum albumin (HSA) nanoparticles hold great promise as a nanocarrier system for targeted drug delivery. The objective of this study was to explore the possibility of preparing size controllable albumin nanoparticles using the disulfide bond breaking reagent β-mercaptoethanol (β-ME). The results showed that the protein concentration and temperature had positive effects on the sizes of the albumin nanoparticles, while pH had a negative effect on the rate of nanoparticle formation. The addition of β-ME induced changes in HSA secondary structure and exposed the hydrophobic core of HSA, leading to the formation of nanoparticles. Human serum albumin nanoparticles could be internalized by MCF-7 cells and mainly accumulated in cytoplasm. After injection in tumor bearing mice, the HSA nanoparticles accumulated in tumor tissues, demonstrating the targeting ability of the nanoparticles. Therefore, human serum albumin can be fabricated into nanoparticles by breaking the disulfide bonds and these nanoparticles exhibit high tumor targeting ability. Human serum albumin nanoparticles could be ideal for the targeted delivery of pharmacologically active substances.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Department of Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guangming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.forename: Kaikai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiaolei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Ahu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Dawei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Yiqiao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D051379:Mice; D008958:Models, Molecular; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000737:chemistry*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D013696:Temperature; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D012709:Serum Albumin