Timing of Heparin Addition to the Biomolecular Corona Influences the Cellular Uptake of Nanocarriers

Few
studies have considered the interaction of nanocarriers with
drugs and the implications for their individual efficiency. Here,
we demonstrate that heparin, a common anticoagulant, interacts with
nanocarriers. Hence, nanocarriers, precoated with heparin and plasma
in different conditions, were incubated with cancer cells, as well
as primary cells from human blood. The relation between the timing
of the heparin’s addition to the nanocarrier and the cellular
uptake extent was assessed by flow cytometry. Through proteomics the
effect of heparin on the biomolecular corona composition was determined.
We found that HeLa cells, monocytes and macrophages reacted differently
to the presence of heparin: the uptake of the precoated nanocarriers
decreased for HeLa and primary monocytes, while it increased for macrophages.
Heparin induced no obvious change in the protein corona composition;
thus, we suggest that heparin itself, through its adsorption on the
nanocarrier, was responsible for the change of uptake.