Nanoparticles engineered to bind cellular motors for efficient delivery

BACKGROUND: Dynein is a cytoskeletal molecular motor protein that transports cellular cargoes along microtubules. Biomimetic synthetic peptides designed to bind dynein have been shown to acquire dynamic properties such as cell accumulation and active intra- and inter-cellular motion through cell-to-cell contacts and projections to distant cells. On the basis of these properties dynein-binding peptides could be used to functionalize nanoparticles for drug delivery applications. RESULTS: Here, we show that gold nanoparticles modified with dynein-binding delivery sequences become mobile, powered by molecular motor proteins. Modified nanoparticles showed dynamic properties, such as travelling the cytosol, crossing intracellular barriers and shuttling the nuclear membrane. Furthermore, nanoparticles were transported from one cell to another through cell-to-cell contacts and quickly spread to distant cells through cell projections. CONCLUSIONS: The capacity of these motor-bound nanoparticles to spread to many cells and increasing cellular retention, thus avoiding losses and allowing lower dosage, could make them candidate carriers for drug delivery. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12951-018-0354-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.