Andrzej S Pitek

Case Western Reserve University | CWRU · Department of Biomedical Engineering

Cardiovascular thrombotic disease is an underlying cause of stroke, myocardial infarction and pulmonary embolism – some of the leading causes of death worldwide. Reperfusion therapy with anticoagulant, antiplatelet, and fibrinolytic agents has significantly reduced early mortality and morbidity from acute myocardial infarction and stroke. Neverthel...

Plant viral nanoparticles (VNPs) are currently being developed as novel vessels for delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic cargos to sites of disease. With a rapid increase in the number of VNP variants and their potential applications in nanomedicine, the properties they acquire in the bloodstream need to be investigated. Biomolecules present in p...

Nanoparticles offer a promising avenue for targeted delivery of therapies. To slow clearance, nanoparticles are frequently stealth-coated to prevent opsonization and immune recognition. Serum albumin (SA) has been used as a bio-inspired stealth coating. To develop this shielding strategy for clinical applications, it is critical to understand the i...

The first-line treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is chemotherapy. While generally well tolerated, off-target effects and chemotherapy-associated complications are still of concern. To overcome the challenges associated with systemic chemotherapy, we developed a biology-inspired, nanoparticle drug delivery system (nanoDDS) making use of the nucle...

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymers are currently used in a variety of medical formulations to reduce toxicity, minimize immune interactions and improve pharmacokinetics. Despite its widespread use however, the presence of anti-PEG antibodies indicates that this polymer has the potential to be immunogenic and antigenic. Here we present an alternativ...

div class="title">Characterization of the Shielding Properties of Serum Albumin on a Plant Viral Nanoparticle - Volume 22 Issue S3 - Neetu M. Gulati, Andrzej S. Pitek, Nicole F. Steinmetz, Phoebe L. Stewart

Biomolecules in bodily fluids such as plasma can adsorb to the surface of nanoparticles and influence their biological properties. This phenomenon, known as the protein corona, is well established in the field of synthetic nanotechnology but has not been described in the context of plant virus nanoparticles (VNPs). The interaction between VNPs deri...

Plant virus-based nanoparticles (VNPs) are a novel class of nanocarriers with unique potential for biomedical applications. VNPs have many advantageous properties such as ease of manufacture and high degree of quality control. Their biocompatibility and biodegradability make them an attractive alternative to synthetic nanoparticles (NPs). Neverthel...

Nanoparticles offer great potential in drug delivery and imaging, but shielding strategies are necessary to increase circulation time and performance. Structure-function studies are required to define the design rules to achieve effective shielding. With several formulations reaching clinical testing and approval, the ability to assess and detail n...

We have used a silica – PEG based bionanoconjugate synthetic scheme to study the subtle connection between cell receptor specific recognition and architecture of surface functionalization chemistry. Extensive physicochemical characterization of the grafted architecture is capable of capturing significant levels of detail of both the linker and graf...

Nanoscale engineering is revolutionizing the way we prevent, detect, and treat diseases. Viruses have played a special role in these developments because they can function as prefabricated nanoscaffolds that have unique properties and are easily modified. The interiors of virus particles can encapsulate and protect sensitive compounds, while the ex...

Nanoparticles in physiological environments are known to selectively adsorb proteins and other biomolecules forming a tightly bound biomolecular 'corona' on their surface. Where the exchange times of the proteins are sufficiently long, it is believed that the protein corona constitutes the particle identity in biological milieu. Here we show that p...

Over the last decade the existence of "the corona," a natural interface between nanomaterials and living matter in biological milieu, evolved from a vague concept into broadly recognized fact. This robust shell arises (to some extent) on the surface of all nanoparticles (NPs), even the ones designed to avoid its formation upon contact with biologic...

Nanoparticles have been proposed as carriers for drugs, genes and therapies to treat various diseases. Many strategies have been developed to target nanomaterials to specific or over-expressed receptors in diseased cells, and these typically involve functionalizing the surface of nanoparticles with proteins, antibodies or other biomolecules. Here,...

It is now well established that the surface of nanoparticles (NPs) in a biological environment is immediately modified by the adsorption of biomolecules with the formation of a protein corona and it is also accepted that the protein corona, rather than the original nanoparticle surface, defines a new biological identity. Consequently, a methodology...

Protein adsorption to nanoparticles (NPs) is a key prerequisite to understand NP-cell interactions. While the layer thickness of the protein corona has been well characterized in many cases, the absolute number of bound proteins and their exchange dynamics in body fluids is difficult to assess. Here we measure the number of molecules adsorbed to su...