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A protein chimera self‐assembling unit for drug delivery
Author(s) -
Amalfitano Adriana,
Martini Cecilia,
Nocca Giuseppina,
Papi Massimiliano,
De Spirito Marco,
Sanguinetti Maurizio,
Vitali Alberto,
Bugli Francesca,
Arcovito Alessandro
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
biotechnology progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.572
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6033
pISSN - 8756-7938
DOI - 10.1002/btpr.2769
Subject(s) - chimera (genetics) , small molecule , drug delivery , nanotechnology , targeted drug delivery , nanoparticle , drug , biological drugs , ubiquitin , chemistry , combinatorial chemistry , drug carrier , target protein , molecule , drug discovery , computational biology , biophysics , materials science , biology , biochemistry , pharmacology , organic chemistry , rheumatoid arthritis , immunology , gene
In the modern view of selective drug delivery of bioactive molecules, the attention is moving onto the setup of the perfect carrier more than in the optimization of the active compound. In this respect, virus‐like particles constitute bioinspired nanodevices with the intrinsic ability to transport a large class of molecules, ranging from smart drugs to small interfering RNAs. In this work, we demonstrate the efficacy of a novel construct obtained by fusing a self‐assembling protein from the human Rotavirus A, VP6, with the Small Ubiquitin Modifier domain, which maintains the ability to form nanoparticles and nanotubes and is able to be used as a drug carrier, even without specific targeting epitopes. The high expression and purification yield, combined with low toxicity of the empty particles, clearly indicate a good candidate for future studies of selective drug delivery. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog ., 35: e2769, 2019.