Abstract

Transferrin is a protein involved in iron uptake by cells and has been identified as a potential target for directing drug-loaded nanoparticles for cancer treatment and diagnosis. Most methods for conjugation of transferrin and nanoparticles involve the formation of a thioeter bond between thiolated transferrin and maleimide-containing nanoparticle. For nanoparticle development, it is important to perform a thorough physicochemical characterization, including quantification of the amount of transferrin functionalizing the delivery system. Thus, following the transferrin and nanoparticle chemical conjugation, an analytical method is need for transferrin quantification. Altogether, we revised both physicochemical and pharmacokinetics transferrin characteristics, the aspects of iron transport after interaction with transferrin, the development of transferrin targeted-nanoparticles, highlighting both their composition, synthesis methods and in vitro/in vivo evaluation. Furthermore, we addressed the analytical methods employed in protein quantification, including spectrophotometric/colorimetric, immunoassays, electrophoretic and chromatographic techniques used to identify and/or quantify of transferrin in biological matrices and drug delivery systems.

摘要

转铁蛋白是一种参与细胞铁摄取的蛋白质，已被确定为指导载药纳米粒子用于癌症治疗和诊断的潜在靶标。大多数转铁蛋白和纳米颗粒结合的方法涉及在硫醇化转铁蛋白和含马来酰亚胺的纳米颗粒之间形成硫醚键。对于纳米粒子的开发，重要的是进行彻底的物理化学表征，包括量化传递系统功能化的转铁蛋白量。因此，在转铁蛋白和纳米颗粒化学结合之后，需要一种用于转铁蛋白定量的分析方法。总之，我们修改了转铁蛋白的理化和药代动力学特征，与转铁蛋白相互作用后铁转运的方面，体外/体内评估。此外，我们还讨论了蛋白质定量中采用的分析方法，包括分光光度法/比色法、免疫测定法、电泳和色谱技术，用于鉴定和/或量化生物基质和药物递送系统中的转铁蛋白。