PEGylated denatured bovine serum albumin modified water-soluble inorganic nanocrystals as multifunctional drug delivery platforms

A novel approach of using denatured bovine serum albumin (dBSA) to modify hydrophobic nanocrystals is reported. The dBSA layer outside of nanocrystals can adsorb water insoluble drugs excellently via hydrophobic interactions. Further PEGylation of the engineered nanocrystals greatly improves their aqueous stability. PEGylated dBSA modified upconversion nanoparticles, as a model for construction of integrating imaging and drug delivery platform, were also studied. The results demonstrated the modified upconversion nanoparticles not only maintain their unique up-conversion luminescence characters but also exhibit higher drug loading ability. Thus, such novel PEGylated dBSA modification approach expands the range of biological applications of inorganic nanocrystals.