State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2021 Dec;8(24):e2101713. doi: 10.1002/advs.202101713. Epub 2021 Nov 1.
Nanoparticles have been widely used in important biomedical applications such as imaging, drug delivery, and disease therapy, in which targeting toward specific proteins is often essential. However, current targeting strategies mainly rely on surface modification with bioligands, which not only often fail to provide desired properties but also remain challenging. Here an unprecedented approach is reported, called reverse microemulsion-confined epitope-oriented surface imprinting and cladding (ROSIC), for facile, versatile, and controllable engineering coreless and core/shell nanoparticles with tunable monodispersed size as well as specific targeting capability toward proteins and peptides. Via engineering coreless imprinted and cladded silica nanoparticles, the effectiveness and superiority over conventional imprinting of the proposed approach are first verified. The prepared nanoparticles exhibit both high specificity and high affinity. Using quantum dots, superparamagnetic nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, and upconverting nanoparticles as a representative set of core substrates, a variety of imprinted and cladded single-core/shell nanoparticles are then successfully prepared. Finally, using imprinted and cladded fluorescent nanoparticles as probes, in vitro targeted imaging of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells and in vivo targeted imaging of TNBC-bearing mice are achieved. This approach opens a new avenue to engineering of nanoparticles for targeting specific proteins, holding great prospects in biomedical applications.
纳米粒子在成像、药物输送和疾病治疗等重要的生物医学应用中得到了广泛的应用，其中针对特定蛋白质的靶向通常是必不可少的。然而，目前的靶向策略主要依赖于生物配体的表面修饰，这不仅常常无法提供所需的性质，而且仍然具有挑战性。在这里，我们报道了一种前所未有的方法，称为反向微乳液限制表位定向表面印迹和包被（ROSIC），用于简便、通用和可控地工程无核和核/壳纳米粒子，具有可调的单分散尺寸以及针对蛋白质和肽的特定靶向能力。通过工程无核印迹和包被的二氧化硅纳米粒子，首先验证了该方法相对于传统印迹的有效性和优越性。所制备的纳米粒子表现出高特异性和高亲和力。使用量子点、超顺磁性纳米粒子、银纳米粒子和上转换纳米粒子作为一组代表性的核基质，然后成功制备了各种印迹和包被的单核/壳纳米粒子。最后，使用印迹和包被的荧光纳米粒子作为探针，实现了三阴性乳腺癌（TNBC）细胞的体外靶向成像和 TNBC 荷瘤小鼠的体内靶向成像。这种方法为针对特定蛋白质的纳米粒子工程开辟了一条新途径，在生物医学应用中具有广阔的前景。
