Albumin corona on nanoparticles - a strategic approach in drug delivery

Nanomaterials have been used widely for delivery of therapeutic agents. Protein-nanoparticle (NP) complexes have gained importance as vehicles for targeted drug delivery due to increased ease of administration, stability and half-life of drug, and reduced toxic side effects. Designing of phospholipid-bovine serum albumin (BSA) complexes and stealth NPs with BSA has paved the way for drug delivery carriers with prolonged blood circulation times. Preformed albumin corona has shown to decrease non-specific association and thereby reduce the clearance rate. Albumin corona has enabled the localization of drug carriers in specific tissues such as liver and heart, thus regulating biodistribution. Tailored albumin-NP conjugates have also enabled controlled degradation of NP and drug release. However, the binding of albumin with NP is associated with conformational and functional modulations in protein as observed with silver, gold and superparamagnetic iron oxide NPs. In this review, we highlight the various potential albumin-NP hybrids as nano drug carriers.