Limited impact of the protein corona on the cellular uptake of PEGylated zein micelles by melanoma cancer cells

Authors Name:

Jitkasem Meewan, Sukrut Somani, Partha Laskar, Craig Irving, Margaret Mullin, Craig W. Roberts, Stuart Woods, Valerie A. Ferro, Abdullah R. Alzahrani, Richard Burchmore, Stefan Weidt, Suzanne McGill, Christine Dufès

Abstract:

The formation of a protein layer “corona” on the nanoparticle surface upon entry into a biological environment was shown to strongly influence the interactions with cells, especially affecting the uptake of nanomedicines. In this work, we present the impact of the protein corona on the uptake of PEGylated zein micelles by cancer cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Zein was successfully conjugated with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) of varying chain lengths (5K and 10K) and assembled into micelles. Our results demonstrate that PEGylation conferred stealth effects to the zein micelles. The presence of human plasma did not impact the uptake levels of the micelles by melanoma cancer cells, regardless of the PEG chain length used. In contrast, it decreased the uptake by macrophages and dendritic cells. These results therefore make PEGylated zein micelles promising as potential drug delivery systems for cancer therapy.

Journal:

Pharmaceutics

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14020439

Publication date:

2022-01-22

Link to article (if provided):

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/14/2/439
By Jitkasem Meewan, Sukrut Somani, Partha Laskar, Craig Irving, Margaret Mullin, Craig W. Roberts, Stuart Woods, Valerie A. Ferro, Abdullah R. Alzahrani, Richard Burchmore, Stefan Weidt, Suzanne McGill, Christine Dufès

Published on 2022-01-22