Direct quantification of serum protein interactions with PEGylated micelle nanocarriers

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Authors
Mallory, D. Paul
Freedman, Abegel
Kaliszewski, Megan J.
Montenegro-Galindo, Gladys RocĂ­o
Pugh, Coleen
Smith, Adam W.
Advisors
Issue Date
2023-06-12
Type
Article
Keywords
Diffusion , Fluorescence , Fluorescence spectroscopy , Micelles , Transport properties
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Citation
D. Paul Mallory, Abegel Freedman, Megan J. Kaliszewski, Gladys RocĂ­o Montenegro-Galindo, Coleen Pugh, and Adam W. Smith Biomacromolecules 2023 24 (6), 2479-2488 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.2c01538
Abstract

A large repertoire of nanocarrier (NC) technologies exists, each with highly specified advantages in terms of targetability, stability, and immunological inertness. The characterization of such NC properties within physiological conditions is essential for the development of optimized drug delivery systems. One method that is well established for reducing premature elimination by avoiding protein adsorption on NCs is surface functionalization with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), aptly called PEGylation. However, recent studies revealed that some PEGylated NCs have a delayed immune response, indicating the occurrence of protein-NC interactions. Obvious protein-NC interactions, especially in micellar systems, may have been overlooked as many early studies relied on techniques less sensitive to molecular level interactions. More sensitive techniques have been developed, but a major challenge is the direct measurement of interactions, which must be done in situ, as micelle assemblies are dynamic. Here, we report the use of pulsed-interleaved excitation fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (PIE-FCCS) to interrogate the interactions between two PEG-based micelle models and serum albumin protein to compare protein adsorption differences based on linear or cyclic PEG architectures. First, by measuring micelle diffusion in isolated and mixed solutions, we confirmed the thermal stability of diblock and triblock copolymer micelle assemblies. Further, we measured the co-diffusion of micelles and serum proteins, the magnitudes of which increased with concentration and continued incubation. The results demonstrate that PIE-FCCS is capable of measuring direct interactions between fluorescently labeled NC and serum proteins, even at concentrations 500 times lower than those observed physiologically. This capability showcases the potential utility of PIE-FCCS in the characterization of drug delivery systems in biomimetic conditions.

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Publisher
American Chemical Society
Journal
Book Title
Series
Biomacromolecules
Volume 24, No. 6
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
1525-7797
EISSN