Journal
NANO CONVERGENCE
Volume 9, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1186/s40580-021-00293-4
Keywords
Protein nanoparticles; Nanomedicine; Cancer therapy; Cancer imaging; Virus-like particles
Funding
- National Key Research and Development Program of China [2016YFA0100900]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51673168, 81871499, 31800807]
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology of the University of Oklahoma
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Protein nanoparticles, as drug delivery carriers, have shown great potential in cancer theranostics. They offer advantages such as mild preparation methods, inheritable characteristics from natural proteins, and easy surface modification and drug loading.
Cancer has been a serious threat to human health. Among drug delivery carriers, protein nanoparticles are unique because of their mild and environmentally friendly preparation methods. They also inherit desired characteristics from natural proteins, such as biocompatibility and biodegradability. Therefore, they have solved some problems inherent to inorganic nanocarriers such as poor biocompatibility. Also, the surface groups and cavity of protein nanoparticles allow for easy surface modification and drug loading. Besides, protein nanoparticles can be combined with inorganic nanoparticles or contrast agents to form multifunctional theranostic platforms. This review introduces representative protein nanoparticles applicable in cancer theranostics, including virus-like particles, albumin nanoparticles, silk protein nanoparticles, and ferritin nanoparticles. It also describes the common methods for preparing them. It then critically analyzes the use of a variety of protein nanoparticles in improved cancer imaging and therapy.
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