Effect of apoferritin surface-biomacromolecular modification on cellular uptake and inhibition of protein corona

Abstract

The effects of surface modifications (PEGylation and PASylation) of natural nanocarriers based on apoferritin (FRT) were tested in this work. The main goals of performed PEGylation/PASylation were decreased protein corona formation leading to better internalization of drugs into diseased cells and therefore higher efficiency of treatment. The influence of created protein coronas on the amount of internalized experimental drug ellipticine (Elli) was evaluated via fluorescence microscopy. Various properties of these modified nanoparticles were studied, such as their cytotoxicity or release kinetics of Elli. According to performed experiments, PAS-10 modification appeared as the most appropriate surface modification.