PEG-Lipid-Coated silica nanoparticles: preventing protein corona formation and avoiding cytotoxicity

Abstract

In the last decades there was a considerable increase in the number of research directed at the use of nanotechnology for biomedical purposes. There is still a large gap in the understanding of formulations in clinical trials. This may be partly due to the difficulty in understanding and controlling the fundamental interactions of nanoparticles (NPs) with the biological environment. However, soon after the intravenous administration of the NPs, their first interaction is with blood. In the blood plasma there are a variety of approximately 1000 proteins, in addition to lipids and other biomolecules, with a great difference of concentration between them. Consequently, these nanoparticles are immediately coated by a layer of proteins (among other biomolecules), which is calleed protein corona. Thus, this research project focus on lipids functionalization of silica nanoparticles of distinct surface charges which are supposedly able to prevent protein corona formation. The proposed work is based on coating silica nanoparticles with non-PEGylated and PEGylated lipids, studying possible protein corona formation and investigating biological response of the synthesized systems. In this internship, the student Larissa Fernanda Ferreira will be working under the guidance of Professor Jean-François Berret (Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes UMR 7057 - Université Paris-Diderot/CNRS), whose research focuses on the study and application of interactions between nanoparticles and living systems. (AU)