Protein-Based Nanoparticles for the Delivery of Enzymes with Antibacterial Activity.
Proteins represent a versatile biopolymer material for the preparation of nanoparticles due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low immunogenicity. This study presents a protein-based nanoparticle system consisting of high surface PEGylated lysozyme polyethylene glycol-modified lysozyme (LYZmPEG ). This protein modification leads to a solubility switch, which allows a nanoparticle preparation using a mild double emulsion method without the need of surfactants. The method allows the encapsulation of large hydrophilic payloads inside of the protein-based nanoparticle system. Native lysozyme (LYZ) was chosen as payload because of its innate activity as natural antibiotic. The mild…
Methods of protein surface PEGylation under structure preservation for the emulsion-based formation of stable nanoparticles
Proteins show remarkable versatility as multifunctional materials for therapeutic applications. They can be easily modified with the toolkit of bioorganic chemistry and are particularly attractive because of their degradability and biocompatibility. Herein, we evaluate different methods for the attachment of multiple PEG chains on the surface of the enzyme lysozyme. For this, we activated standard 2 kDa mPEG chains with four different electrophilic groups and tested their ability to react with different amino acids on the surface of our model protein. The aim was to find an effective and at the same time mild modification method that preserves the native structure and activity of the enzyme…
Nanoparticle Assembly of Surface-Modified Proteins
Nature's biomaterials such as peptides and proteins represent a valuable source of highly defined macromolecules. Herein we developed a nanoparticle drug delivery system based on the assembly of surface-modified proteins that can be transferred into organic solvents and represent the structural material of the carrier system. The particles are prepared by an oil-in-water nanoemulsion technique without the need of additional denaturation or cross-linking steps for stabilization. We achieve the necessary lipophilic solubility switch of the protein material by high surface PEGylation under conservation of the native three-dimensional protein structure. This study focuses on lysozyme as model e…