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Uptake of extracellular vesicles into immune cells is enhanced by the protein corona
Summary
This study found that a protein coating (called a "corona") that forms around nanoparticles in blood actually increases their uptake by human immune cells called monocytes. While this research focused on extracellular vesicles and liposomes rather than plastic particles, the finding is relevant to microplastics research because similar protein coronas form on plastic nanoparticles in the body, potentially influencing how immune cells interact with them.
The influence of a protein corona on the uptake of nanoparticles in cells has been demonstrated in various publications over the last years. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), can be seen as natural nanoparticles. However, EVs are produced under different cell culture conditions and little is known about the protein corona forming on EVs and its influence on their uptake by target cells. Here, we use a proteomic approach in order to analyze the protein composition of the EVs themselves and the protein composition of a human blood plasma protein corona around EVs. Moreover, we analyze the influence of the protein corona on EV uptake into human monocytes and compare it with the influence on the uptake of engineered liposomes. We show that the presence of a protein corona increases the uptake of EVs in human monocytes. While for liposomes this seems to be triggered by the presence of immunoglobulins in the protein corona, for EVs blocking the Fc receptors on monocytes did not show an influence of uptake. Therefore, other mechanisms of docking to the cell membrane and uptake are most like involved, demonstrating a clear difference between EVs and liposomes as technically produced nanocarriers.
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