Engineering Protein Nanocages As Carriers for Biomedical Applications

Overview

Journal NPG Asia Mater

Date 2020 Mar 29

PMID 32218880

Citations 58

Authors

Sathyamoorthy Bhaskar

Sierin Lim

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Protein nanocages have been explored as potential carriers in biomedicine. Formed by the self-assembly of protein subunits, the caged structure has three surfaces that can be engineered: the interior, the exterior and the intersubunit. Therapeutic and diagnostic molecules have been loaded in the interior of nanocages, while their external surfaces have been engineered to enhance their biocompatibility and targeting abilities. Modifications of the intersubunit interactions have been shown to modulate the self-assembly profile with implications for tuning the molecular release. We review natural and synthetic protein nanocages that have been modified using chemical and genetic engineering techniques to impart non-natural functions that are responsive to the complex cellular microenvironment of malignant cells while delivering molecular cargos with improved efficiencies and minimal toxicity.

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