pH and H2O2 dual-responsive nanoparticles for monitoring intracellular protein Delivery

Protein therapy holds enormous promise for cancer treatment due to its potential high potency. However, its clinical application is severely limited due to poor membrane permeability of proteins as well as lack of efficient delivery vehicles and methods of real-time protein-tracking. Here a pH and H₂O₂ dual-responsive NIRF (near-infrared fluorescence) turn-on protein delivery system incorporating an NIRF turn-on probe and protein into one single nanoparticle was rationally designed and fabricated based on tumor microenvironment for monitoring intracellular protein delivery. The nanoparticles can be taken up eï¬?ciently by A549 cells, where protein release and NIRF recovery happen simultaneously in response to low pH and excessive H₂O₂. More importantly, the delivery of protein via such a delivery system didn’t compromise on the activity of the protein. Thus, we provide a new approach to fabricate biocompatible and eï¬?cient stimuli-responsive turn-on systems for monitoring intracellular protein delivery. We believe that the strategy developed in this work may find broad applications in drug release monitoring and cancer cell imaging.

Author(s): Yuxin Pei

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