Targeting cancer cells: Controlling the binding and internalization of antibody-functionalized capsules

Abstract

The development of nanoengineered particles, such as polymersomes, liposomes, and polymer capsules, has the potential to offer significant advances in vaccine and cancer therapy. However, the effectiveness of these carriers has the potential to be greatly improved if they can be specifically delivered to target cells. We describe a general method for functionalizing nanoengineered polymer capsules with antibodies using click chemistry and investigate their interaction with cancer cells in vitro. The binding efficiency to cells was found to be dependent on both the capsule-to-cell ratio and the density of antibody on the capsule surface. In mixed cell populations, more than 90% of target cell..