Protein resistance of (ethylene oxide)n monolayers at the air/water interface: effects of packing density and chain length

Ru@CeO2 yolk shell nanozymes: Oxygen supply in situ enhanced dual chemotherapy combined with photothermal therapy for orthotopic/subcutaneous colorectal cancer

Hypoxia is an important factor in forming multidrug resistance, recurrence and metastasis in solid tumors. Nanozymes respond to tumor microenvironment for tumor-specific treatment is a new and effective strategy. In this study, one-pot method was used to synthesize hollow Ru@CeO2 yolk shell nanozymes (Ru@CeO2 YSNs), which possess excellent light-to-heat conversion efficiency and catalytic performance. Antitumor drug ruthenium complex (RBT) and resveratrol (Res) were dual-loaded in Ru@CeO2 YSNs, and a double outer layer structure using polyethylene glycol was constructed to form dual-drug delivery system (Ru@CeO2-RBT/Res-DPEG) that was released on demand. The double outer layer structure increased the biocompatibility of Ru@CeO2 YSNs and effectively prolong the circulation time in blood. Ru@CeO2-RBT/Res-DPEG catalyzes endogenous H2O2 to produce oxygen, which achieve in situ oxygen supply and enhanced dual-chemotherapy and photothermal therapy (PTT) for colorectal cancer. In vitro studies found that Ru@CeO2-RBT/Res-DPEG has good tumor penetration depth and antitumor effect. In addition, Ru@CeO2-RBT/Res-DPEG can alleviate tumor hypoxia, and inhibit metastasis and recurrence of orthotopic and subcutaneous colorectal cancer. Accordingly, the study shows that yolk shell nanozymes can be used as an efficient synergistic system for dual-chemotherapy and PTT to kill tumor and inhibit orthotopic colorectal cancer metastasis and recurrence.

Dense and Dynamic Polyethylene Glycol Shells Cloak Nanoparticles from Uptake by Liver Endothelial Cells for Long Blood Circulation

Research into long-circulating nanoparticles has in the past focused on reducing their clearance by macrophages. By engineering a hierarchical polyethylene glycol (PEG) structure on nanoparticle surfaces, we revealed an alternative mechanism to enhance nanoparticle blood circulation. The conjugation of a second PEG layer at a density close to but lower than the mushroom-to-brush transition regime on conventional PEGylated nanoparticles dramatically prolongs their blood circulation via reduced nanoparticle uptake by non-Kupffer cells in the liver, especially liver sinusoidal endothelial cells. Our study also disclosed that the dynamic outer PEG layer reduces protein binding affinity to nanoparticles, although not the total number of adsorbed proteins. These effects of the outer PEG layer diminish in the higher density regime. Therefore, our results suggest that the dynamic topographical structure of nanoparticles is an important factor in governing their fate in vivo. Taken together, this study advances our understanding of nanoparticle blood circulation and provides a facile approach for generating long circulating nanoparticles.

Preparation, characterization, and protein-resistance of films derived from a series of α-oligo(ethylene glycol)-ω-alkenes on H–Si(111) surfaces

Films on Si(111) were prepared by photo-activated grafting of CH₂&#xe001;CH(CH₂)m(OCH₂CH₂)nOCH₃ (m = 8, 9; n = 3–7) by using different vacuum conditions. High vacuum produced a higher thickness (40 Å) and <0.8% fibrinogen adsorption (C₁₀EG₇). Films were stable even after 28 days.

Effect of grafted PEG chain conformation on albumin and lysozyme adsorption: A combined study using QCM-D and DPI

In this study, elucidation of protein adsorption mechanism is performed using dual polarization interferometry (DPI) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) to study adsorption behaviors of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lysozyme (LYZ) on poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) layers. From the analysis of DPI, PEG2000 and PEG5000 show tight and loose mushroom conformations, respectively. Small amount of LYZ could displace the interfacial water surrounding the tight mushroomed PEG2000 chains by hydrogen bond attraction, leading to protein adsorption. The loose mushroomed PEG5000 chains exhibit a more flexible conformation and high elastic repulsion energy that could prevent protein adsorption of all BSA and most of LYZ. From the analysis of QCM, PEG2000 and PEG5000 show tight and extended brush conformations. The LYZ adsorbed mass has critical regions of PEG2000 (0.19 chain/nm(2)) and PEG5000 (0.16 chain/nm(2)) graft density. When graft density of PEG is higher than the critical region (brush conformations), the attraction of hydrogen bonds between PEG and LYZ is the dominant factor. When graft density of PEG is lower than the critical region (mushroom conformations), elastic repulsion between PEG and proteins is driven by the high conformation entropy of PEG chains, which is the dominant force of steric repulsion in PEG-protein systems. Therefore, the adsorption of BSA is suppressed by the high elastic repulsion energy of PEG chains, whereas the adsorption of LYZ is balanced by the interactions between the repulsion of entropy elasticity and the attraction of hydrogen bonds.

Protein-protein resistance investigated by quartz crystal microbalance

By use of quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D), we have investigated the adsorption of proteins such as fibrinogen, bovine serum albumin or lysozyme on the surface of soy protein film in PBS buffer solution in real time. Our studies demonstrate that the proteins can be adsorbed on soy protein film at a pH between the isoelectric point (pI(sp)) of soy protein film and that (pI(fp)) of the foreign protein, where the adsorption decreases with the concentration of added salt. Beyond the pH range, soy protein generally resists the adsorption of the foreign protein due to electrostatic repulsion, which is slightly affected by the concentration of the added salt in the range we investigated. At a pH close to pI(sp) or pI(fp), the proteins can also be adsorbed on soy protein film due to hydrophobic interactions. The present study reveals that the protein resistance of soy protein film is determined by electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding between the foreign protein and soy protein.