Regulation of Macrophage Recognition through the Interplay of Nanoparticle Surface Functionality and Protein Corona

• Published in: ACS nano Vol. 10; no. 4; pp. 4421 - 4430
• Main Authors: Saha, Krishnendu, Rahimi, Mehran, Yazdani, Mahdieh, Kim, Sung Tae, Moyano, Daniel F, Hou, Singyuk, Das, Ridhha, Mout, Rubul, Rezaee, Farhad, Mahmoudi, Morteza, Rotello, Vincent M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 26.04.2016
• Subjects: Animals; Cations; Gold - chemistry; Humans; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Macrophages - metabolism; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Mice; Particle Size; Protein Binding; Protein Corona - metabolism; RAW 264.7 Cells; Surface Properties; macrophages; gold nanoparticles; surface functionality; complement system; protein corona
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b00053

Using a family of cationic gold nanoparticles (NPs) with similar size and charge, we demonstrate that proper surface engineering can control the nature and identity of protein corona in physiological serum conditions. The protein coronas were highly dependent on the hydrophobicity and arrangement of chemical motifs on NP surface. The NPs were uptaken in macrophages in a corona-dependent manner, predominantly through recognition of specific complement proteins in the NP corona. Taken together, this study shows that surface functionality can be used to tune the protein corona formed on NP surface, dictating the interaction of NPs with macrophages.