Chemokine-Decorated Nanoparticles Target Specific Subpopulations of Primary Blood Mononuclear Leukocytes

Specific cell targeting to deliver nanoparticles can be achieved by tailored modifications of the material surface with chemical moieties. The selection of the cell targets can be optimized by covering the nanoparticle with molecules, the receptor expression of which is restricted to particular cell subsets. Chemokines perform their biological action through 7-TM G(i)-protein-coupled receptors differently expressed in all tissues. We decorated the surface of biocompatible polymer nanoparticles with full-length CCL5, an inflammatory chemokine that attracts leukocytes by binding CCR5, which is highly expressed in blood-circulating monocytes. Our observations showed that CCL5 functionalization does not affect the nanoparticle biocompatibility. Notably, CCL5 NPs delivered to PBMCs are selectively internalized by CCR5(+) monocytes but not by CCR5(-) lymphocytes. The efficacy of PBMC subpopulation targeting by chemokine-decorated nanoparticles establishes an easy-to-use functionalization for specific leukocyte delivery.