Engineering building blocks for self-assembling protein nanoparticles

Microbial Cell Factories

Commentary

Antonio Villaverde¹  Esther Vázquez¹ 

[1] Institute for Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Barcelona, Spain;Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Barcelona, Spain;CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Bellaterra, 08193, Barcelona, Spain;

关键词: Filamentous Phage;    Protein Cage;    Nucleic Acid Delivery;    Nuclear Delivery;    Bacterial Inclusion Body;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2859-9-101

 received in 2010-12-29, accepted in 2010-12-30,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Like natural viruses, manmade protein cages for drug delivery are to be ideally formed by repetitive subunits with self-assembling properties, mimicking viral functions and molecular organization. Naturally formed nanostructures (such as viruses, flagella or simpler protein oligomers) can be engineered to acquire specific traits of interest in biomedicine, for instance through the addition of cell targeting agents for desired biodistribution and specific delivery of associated drugs. However, fully artificial constructs would be highly desirable regarding finest tuning and adaptation to precise therapeutic purposes. Although engineering of protein assembling is still in its infancy, arising principles and promising strategies of protein manipulation point out the rational construction of nanoscale protein cages as a feasible concept, reachable through conventional recombinant DNA technologies and microbial protein production.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Vázquez and Villaverde; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010