School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil.
Center of Biological and Health Sciences, State University of Paraíba, Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil.
Crit Rev Anal Chem. 2021;51(5):399-410. doi: 10.1080/10408347.2020.1743639. Epub 2020 Mar 26.
Transferrin is a protein involved in iron uptake by cells and has been identified as a potential target for directing drug-loaded nanoparticles for cancer treatment and diagnosis. Most methods for conjugation of transferrin and nanoparticles involve the formation of a thioeter bond between thiolated transferrin and maleimide-containing nanoparticle. For nanoparticle development, it is important to perform a thorough physicochemical characterization, including quantification of the amount of transferrin functionalizing the delivery system. Thus, following the transferrin and nanoparticle chemical conjugation, an analytical method is need for transferrin quantification. Altogether, we revised both physicochemical and pharmacokinetics transferrin characteristics, the aspects of iron transport after interaction with transferrin, the development of transferrin targeted-nanoparticles, highlighting both their composition, synthesis methods and / evaluation. Furthermore, we addressed the analytical methods employed in protein quantification, including spectrophotometric/colorimetric, immunoassays, electrophoretic and chromatographic techniques used to identify and/or quantify of transferrin in biological matrices and drug delivery systems.
转铁蛋白是一种参与细胞铁摄取的蛋白质，已被确定为将载药纳米颗粒靶向用于癌症治疗和诊断的潜在靶标。转铁蛋白和纳米颗粒缀合的大多数方法都涉及巯基化转铁蛋白和含马来酰亚胺的纳米颗粒之间形成硫醚键。对于纳米颗粒的开发，重要的是要进行彻底的物理化学特性分析，包括定量测定使递药系统官能化的转铁蛋白的量。因此，在转铁蛋白和纳米颗粒化学缀合之后，需要一种用于转铁蛋白定量的分析方法。总之，我们修订了转铁蛋白的物理化学和药代动力学特性、与转铁蛋白相互作用后铁转运的各个方面、转铁蛋白靶向纳米颗粒的开发，重点介绍了它们的组成、合成方法和/或评估。此外，我们还讨论了用于蛋白质定量的分析方法，包括分光光度法/比色法、免疫测定法、电泳和色谱技术，这些技术用于鉴定和/或定量生物基质和药物递送系统中的转铁蛋白。
