TY - JOUR
T1 - Biomimetic Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Nanoparticles with Improved Dispersibility, Signal Brightness, and Tumor Targeting Functions
AU - Srivastava, Indrajit
AU - Xue, Ruiyang
AU - Jones, Jamie
AU - Rhee, Hyunjoon
AU - Flatt, Kristen
AU - Gruev, Viktor
AU - Nie, Shuming
N1 - S.N. acknowledges the Grainger College of Engineering and the University of Illinois at Urbana\u2212Champaign for institutional support. V.G. thanks the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (grant W81XWH-19-1-0299) and the National Science Foundation (grant 2030421). I.S. acknowledges the Baxter Young Investigator Award. The authors thank Dr. Julio Soares for assistance with dark-field microscopy imaging. Transmission electron microscopy and dark-field microscopy imaging was carried out in the Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities, University of Illinois.
S.N. acknowledges the Grainger College of Engineering and the University of Illinois at Urbana\u2013Champaign for institutional support. V.G. thanks the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (grant W81XWH-19-1-0299) and the National Science Foundation (grant 2030421). I.S. acknowledges the Baxter Young Investigator Award. The authors thank Dr. Julio Soares for assistance with dark-field microscopy imaging. Transmission electron microscopy and dark-field microscopy imaging was carried out in the Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities, University of Illinois.
PY - 2022/5/24
Y1 - 2022/5/24
N2 - The development of biocompatible and nontoxic surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoparticles is of considerable current interest because of their attractive biomedical applications such as ultrasensitive in vitro diagnostics, in vivo tumor imaging, and spectroscopy-guided cancer surgery. However, current SERS nanoparticles are prepared and stored in aqueous solution, have limited stability and dispersibility, and are not suitable for lyophilization and storage by freeze-drying or other means. Here, we report a simple but robust method to coat colloidal SERS nanoparticles by naturally derived biomimetic red blood cell membranes (RBCM), leading to a dramatic improvement in stability and dispersibility under freeze−thawing, lyophilization, heating, and physiological conditions. The results demonstrate that the lyophilized SERS nanoparticles in the solid form can be readily dissolved and dispersed in physiological buffer solutions. A surprising finding is that the RBCM-coated SERS particles are considerably brighter (by as much as 5-fold) than PEGylated SERS particles under similar experimental conditions. This additional enhancement is believed to arise from the hydrophobic nature of RBCM’s hydrocarbon chains, which is known to reduce electronic dampening and boost electromagnetic field enhancement. A further advantage in using biomimetic membrane coatings is that the bilayer membrane structure allows nonvalent insertion of molecular ligands for tumor targeting. In particular, we show that cyclic-RGD, a tumor-targeting peptide, can be efficiently inserted into the membrane coatings of SERS nanoparticles for targeting the ανβ3 integrin receptors expressed on cancer cells. Thus, biomimetic RBCMs provide major advantages over traditional polyethylene glycols for preparing SERS nanoparticles with improved dispersibility, higher signal intensity, and more efficient biofunctionalization.
AB - The development of biocompatible and nontoxic surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoparticles is of considerable current interest because of their attractive biomedical applications such as ultrasensitive in vitro diagnostics, in vivo tumor imaging, and spectroscopy-guided cancer surgery. However, current SERS nanoparticles are prepared and stored in aqueous solution, have limited stability and dispersibility, and are not suitable for lyophilization and storage by freeze-drying or other means. Here, we report a simple but robust method to coat colloidal SERS nanoparticles by naturally derived biomimetic red blood cell membranes (RBCM), leading to a dramatic improvement in stability and dispersibility under freeze−thawing, lyophilization, heating, and physiological conditions. The results demonstrate that the lyophilized SERS nanoparticles in the solid form can be readily dissolved and dispersed in physiological buffer solutions. A surprising finding is that the RBCM-coated SERS particles are considerably brighter (by as much as 5-fold) than PEGylated SERS particles under similar experimental conditions. This additional enhancement is believed to arise from the hydrophobic nature of RBCM’s hydrocarbon chains, which is known to reduce electronic dampening and boost electromagnetic field enhancement. A further advantage in using biomimetic membrane coatings is that the bilayer membrane structure allows nonvalent insertion of molecular ligands for tumor targeting. In particular, we show that cyclic-RGD, a tumor-targeting peptide, can be efficiently inserted into the membrane coatings of SERS nanoparticles for targeting the ανβ3 integrin receptors expressed on cancer cells. Thus, biomimetic RBCMs provide major advantages over traditional polyethylene glycols for preparing SERS nanoparticles with improved dispersibility, higher signal intensity, and more efficient biofunctionalization.
KW - dispersion stability
KW - gold nanoparticles
KW - plasmonics
KW - red blood cell membrane
KW - surface coatings
KW - surface-enhanced Raman scattering
KW - tumor targeting
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U2 - 10.1021/acsnano.2c01062
DO - 10.1021/acsnano.2c01062
M3 - Article
C2 - 35471820
AN - SCOPUS:85129303092
SN - 1936-0851
VL - 16
SP - 8051
EP - 8063
JO - ACS Nano
JF - ACS Nano
IS - 5
ER -