Protein-based nanocarriers and nanotherapeutics for infection and inflammation.

Infectious and inflammatory diseases are one of the leading causes of death globally. The status quo has become more prominent with the onset of Covid-19 pandemic. In order to combat these potential crises, proteins have been proven as highly efficacious drugs, drug targets and biomarkers. On the other hand, advancements in nanotechnology have aided efficient and sustained drug delivery due to their nano-dimension-acquired advantages. Combining both the strategies together, the protein nanoplatforms are equipped with the advantageous intrinsic properties of proteins as well as nanoformulations, eloquently changing the field of nanomedicine. Proteins can act as carriers, therapeutics, diagnostics and theranostic in their nanoform as fusion proteins or as composites with other organic/inorganic materials. Protein-based nanoplatforms have been extensively explored in order to target the major infectious and inflammatory diseases of clinical concern. The current review comprehensively deliberated proteins as nanocarriers for drugs and nanotherapeutics for inflammatory and infectious agents with special emphasis on cancer and viral diseases. Plethora of proteins from diverse organisms have aided in the synthesis of protein based nanoformulations. The current study specifically presented the proteins of human and pathogenic origin, to dwell upon the field of protein nanotechnology emphasizing on their pharmacological advantages. Further, the successful clinical translation and current bottlenecks of the protein-based nanoformulations associated with infection-inflammation paradigm has also been discussed comprehensively. Significance Statement This review discusses the plethora of promising protein-based nanocarriers and nanotherapeutics explored for infectious and inflammatory ailments with particular emphasis on proteins nanoparticles of human and pathogenic origin with reference to the advantages, ADME parameters and current bottlenecks in development of protein-based nanotherapeutic interventions.