Biotin-modified bovine serum albumin nanoparticles as a potential drug delivery system for paclitaxel

This study proposed a novel injectable nanocarrier for paclitaxel (PTX) based on biotin-modified bovine serum albumin (BSA). First, the biotin-modified BSA (biotin-BSA) was successfully synthesized and characterized by FT-IR analysis. Then, the PTX-loaded biotin-BSA nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by disulfide bond reducing method and stabilized through the formation of intermolecular disulfide bonds. The influence of solution pH, glutathione concentration, temperature and organic solvent on the formation of NPs was studied. Under the optimized conditions, the PTX-loaded NPs had a mean diameter of 163 nm with zeta potential of − 35 mV. Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that the NPs were sphere in shape and had a narrow size distribution. XRD and DSC spectra confirmed the successful encapsulation of PTX in the NPs in an amorphous state. The MTT assay verified that the in vitro cytotoxicity of PTX-loaded biotin-BSA NPs to biotin receptor-positive MCF-7 cells was a little higher than that of Taxol®. The cellular uptake experiments by flow cytometry demonstrated the biotin receptor-mediated endocytosis of biotin-BSA NPs. It can be concluded that the PTX-loaded biotin-BSA NPs were a promising drug delivery carrier for PTX.