Engineering protein nanocages as carriers for biomedical applications

Bhaskar, Sathyamoorthy; Lim, Sierin

Although the majority of efforts have been focused on using protein nanocages to deliver anticancer drugs, exploiting protein nanocages to modulate the immune response is an emerging area of research and potentially the most attractive application. Protein nanocages are good candidates for delivering immune modulating agents for application in cancer immunotherapies or autoimmune disease treatments. In nature, viruses have the innate ability to condense and deliver nucleic acids through cell receptor interactions. By studying the structure and functions of the protein subunits in viruses that are responsible for packaging and releasing nucleic acids, novel gene delivery systems can be constructed de novo. Other limited explorations include the use of protein nanocages for the treatment of skin conditions such as pigmentation disorders and ocular delivery of therapeutics.