Nanoparticleprotein Corona

Nanoparticles have numerous biomedical applications including drug delivery, bone implants and imaging. A protein corona is formed when proteins existing in a biological system cover the nanoparticle surface. The formation of a nanoparticle–protein corona, changes the behaviour of the nanoparticle, resulting in new biological characteristics and influencing the circulation lifetime, accumulation, toxicity, cellular uptake and agglomeration. This book provides a detailed understanding of nanoparticle–protein corona formation, its biological significance and the factors that govern the formation of coronas. It also explains the impact of nanoparticle–protein interactions on biological assays, ecotoxicity studies and proteomics research. It will be of interest to researchers studying the application of nanoparticles as well as toxicologists and pharmaceutical chemists.

Nanoparticles have numerous biomedical applications including drug delivery, bone implants and imaging. A protein corona is formed when proteins existing in a biological system cover the nanoparticle surface. The formation of a nanoparticle–protein corona, changes the behaviour of the nanoparticle, resulting in new biological characteristics and influencing the circulation lifetime, accumulation, toxicity, cellular uptake and agglomeration. This book provides a detailed understanding of nanoparticle–protein corona formation, its biological significance and the factors that govern the formation of coronas. It also explains the impact of nanoparticle–protein interactions on biological assays, ecotoxicity studies and proteomics research. It will be of interest to researchers studying the application of nanoparticles as well as toxicologists and pharmaceutical chemists.

In recent years, the fabrication of nanomaterials and exploration of their properties have attracted the attention of various scientific disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry, and engineering. Although nanoparticulate systems are of significant interest in various scientific and technological areas, there is little known about the safety of these nanoscale objects. It has now been established that the surfaces of nanoparticles are immediately covered by biomolecules (e.g. proteins, ions, and enzymes) upon their entrance into a biological medium. This interaction with the biological medium modulates the surface of the nanoparticles, conferring a “biological identity” to their surfaces (referred to as a “corona”), which determines the subsequent cellular/tissue responses. The new interface between the nanoparticles and the biological medium/proteins, called “bio-nano interface,” has been very rarely studied in detail to date, though the interest in this topic is rapidly growing. In this book, the importance of the physiochemical characteristics of nanoparticles for the properties of the protein corona is discussed in detail, followed by comprehensive descriptions of the methods for assessing the protein-nanoparticle interactions. The advantages and limitations of available corona evaluation methods (e.g. spectroscopy methods, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, and differential centrifugal sedimentation) are examined in detail, followed by a discussion of the possibilities for enhancing the current methods and a call for new techniques. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of protein-nanoparticle interaction phenomena are explored and discussed, with a focus on the biological impacts.

Nanoparticles and the Immune System provides a reference text for toxicologists, materials scientists and regulators and covers the key issues of interaction of nanomaterials with the immune system. The book discusses several issues that toxicologists and regulators need to know: identification of endpoints that are relevant for assessing hazard, evaluating impact on immunologically frail populations, and how to evaluate chronic/cumulative effects. In addition, the book addresses the possibility of turning the immunomodulating properties of certain nanomaterials to our advantage for amplifying immune responses in certain diseases or preventive strategies (e.g. vaccination). Identifies endpoints relevant for assessing hazardous situations, evaluating the impact on immunologically frail populations and how to gauge chronic/cumulative effects Raises the awareness of the importance of knowing the effects of the new nanomaterials on our immune system

The chapters in this book are written by a team of well-reputed international researchers. The objective is to provide advanced and updated information related to protein-protein interactions. I hope the methods, resources and approaches described here will enhance the available knowledge of the reader significantly.

In this book the recent progress accumulated in studies of the interaction of engineered nanoparticles with cells and cellular constituents is presented. The focus is on manufacturing and characterization of nanosized materials, their interactions with biological molecules such as proteins, the mechanisms of transport across biological membranes as well as their effects on biological functions. Fundamental molecular and cellular aspects are in the foreground of the book. A further particularity is the interdisciplinary approach, including fields such as preparatory and analytical chemistry, biophysics and the physics of colloids, advanced microscopy and spectroscopy for in-situ detection of nanoparticles, cellular toxicology and nanomedicine. Nanoscale particles are known to exhibit novel and unprecedented properties that make them different from their corresponding bulk materials. As our ability to control these properties is further advanced, a huge potential to create materials with novel properties and applications emerges. Although the technological and economic benefits of nanomaterials are indisputable, concerns have also been raised that nanoscale structuring of materials might also induce negative health effects. Unfortunately, such negative health effects cannot be deduced from the known toxicity of the corresponding macroscopic material. As a result, there is a major gap in the knowledge necessary for assessing their risk to human health.

Questo libro ha vinto il Premio Tesi di Dottorato istituito dalla Sapienza Università di Roma, nell’edizione 2013. In nanomedicina, la terapia genica rappresenta un fronte di ricerca promettente. Le limitazioni e i rischi associati ai vettori virali hanno stimolato lo sviluppo di vettori alternativi, in particolare i liposomi cationici. Al momento della somministrazione, l’organismo reagisce formando una “corona proteica”, uno strato di proteine la cui composizione dipende dalle dimensioni dei liposomi e dalle loro caratteristiche chimico-fisiche. Si tratta di un evento critico per la biodistribuzione in vivo, nonché per l’attivazione della risposta del sistema del reticolo-endoteliale, che regola la rimozione dall’organismo. Lo scopo del lavoro è stato quello di identificare e comparare, mediante studi proteomici basati sull’utilizzo di sistemi cromatografici e mass-spettrometrici ad elevata risoluzione, le proteine plasmatiche adsorbite su varie tipologie di liposomi, al fine di caratterizzarne le differenze, comprendere l’impatto biologico dei vettori e migliorare la loro progettazione per aumentare l’efficienza di trasfezione di sistemi già esistenti e poterne ingegnerizzare di nuovi.

The intersection of nanotechnology with biology has given rise to numerous ideas for new ways to use nanotechnology for biological applications. Nanomaterials possess unique size- and material-dependent properties which make them attractive for improving regular biomedical fields, such as drug delivery, imaging, therapy, and diagnostics. Divided into three convenient sections, Nanomaterial Interfaces in Biology: Methods and Protocols covers protocols describing synthesis, fabrication, and construction of bio-nanomaterial interfaces, characterization protocols of bio-nanomaterial interfaces, and applications which utilize the bio-nanomaterial interfaces. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters contain introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and accessible Nanomaterial Interfaces in Biology: Methods and Protocols will serve the new and emerging scientific community, enabling new capabilities and technologies that were not previously possible in medicine and biology.