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Tailoring nanocarriers for intracellular protein delivery

2011; Royal Society of Chemistry; Volume: 40; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1039/c0cs00227e

1460-4744

Zhen Gu, Anuradha Biswas, Muxun Zhao, Yi Tang,

Polymer Surface Interaction Studies

Proteins play a crucial role in life, taking part in all vital processes in the body. In the past decade, there was increasing interest in delivering active forms of proteins to specific cells and organs. Intracellular protein delivery holds enormous promise for biological and medical applications, including cancer therapy, vaccination, regenerative medicine, treatment for loss-of-function genetic diseases and imaging. This tutorial review surveys recent developments in intracellular protein delivery using various nanocarriers. Methods such as lipid-mediated colloidal systems, polymeric nanocarriers, inorganic systems and protein-mediated carriers are reviewed. Advantages and limitations of current strategies, as well as future opportunities and challenges are also discussed.