Spotlights on Recent JACS Publications

For drug delivery and other biomedical applications, crafting nanoparticles from proteins can have numerous advantages, such as biodegradability, stability, low immunogenicity and toxicity, and easy functionalization. However, the methods used to synthesize protein nanoparticles thus far have involved the dissolution or denaturation of the native protein structure into hydrophobic materials or a stabilizing cross-linking step using toxic compounds, and these modifications could compromise the proteins’ safety in vivo. Peter Wich and co-workers develop a new method for creating stable protein nanoparticles able to carry pharmaceutical cargo that requires no denaturation, crosslinking, or additional surfactants (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b06243). The new method instead involves PEGylating the protein’s surface, rendering it fully soluble in an organic solvent while preserving the initial structure of the protein. After evaporation of the solvent, nanoparticles composed of tightly packed proteins remain. Lysozyme-based nanoparticles prepared using this technique can successfully trap the cancer drug doxorubicin and ferry it into cells with controlled cellular uptake. The researchers demonstrate the utility of this technique on several different proteins as well, including β-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin, and human serum albumin. This method offers a novel and versatile way to form protein nanoparticles for technological and pharmaceutical innovations. Christen Brownlee