Antibody plug-and-playable nanoparticles as a facile and versatile platform for targeted drug delivery

Abstract

For effective drug delivery using nanoparticles, antibody can be beneficially utilized thanks to its high binding affinity to the target site. However, a conventional method to conjugate antibody to nanoparticles involves a multi-step synthetic process, which can damage the antibody’s intrinsic target-recognition nature. Herein, a facile approach is reported to construct a versatile targeted delivery platform, to which any desired antibodies are allowed to directly bind, by coating the nanoparticle surface with a functional fusion protein consisting of glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and the antibody-binding domain (ABD) called Z domain. The antibody-plugged nanoparticle exhibits high structural stability in biological environments and cell-specific targeting behaviors, significantly enhancing drug delivery efficiency both in vitro and in vivo for diverse therapeutic applications.