Genetically engineering encapsulin protein cage nanoparticle as a SCC-7 cell targeting optical nanoprobe

BACKGROUND Protein cage nanoparticles are promising nanoplatform candidates for efficient delivery systems of diagnostics and/or therapeutics because of their uniform size and structure as well as high biocompatibility and biodegradability. Encapsulin protein cage nanoparticle is used to develop a cell-specific targeting optical nanoprobe. RESULTS FcBPs are genetically inserted and successfully displayed on the surface of encapsulin to form FcBP-encapsulin. Selectively binding of FcBP-encapsulin to SCC-7 is visualized with fluorescent microscopy. CONCLUSIONS Encapsulin protein cage nanoparticle is robust enough to maintain their structure at high temperature and easily acquires multifunctions on demand through the combination of genetic and chemical modifications.