Protein Corona Analysis of Silver Nanoparticles Links to Their Cellular Effects

The breadth of applications of nanoparticles
and the access to food-associated consumer products containing nanosized
materials lead to oral human exposure to such particles. In biological
fluids nanoparticles dynamically interact with biomolecules and form
a protein corona. Knowledge about the protein corona is of great interest
for understanding the molecular effects of particles as well as their
fate inside the human body. We used a mass spectrometry-based toxicoproteomics
approach to elucidate mechanisms of toxicity of silver nanoparticles
and to comprehensively characterize the protein corona formed around
silver nanoparticles in Caco-2 human intestinal epithelial cells.
Results were compared with respect to the cellular function of proteins
either affected by exposure to nanoparticles or present in the protein
corona. A transcriptomic data set was included in the analyses in
order to obtain a combined multiomics view of nanoparticle-affected
cellular processes. A relationship between corona proteins and the
proteomic or transcriptomic responses was revealed, showing that differentially
regulated proteins or transcripts were engaged in the same cellular
signaling pathways. Protein corona analyses of nanoparticles in cells
might therefore help in obtaining information about the molecular
consequences of nanoparticle treatment.