Proteins are well known to adsorb to interfaces, be they solid, liquid or air. Interfacial protein adsorption is essential for biological functions, like cell adhesion for example. In tissue engineering, materials can be functionalized with adsorbed proteins in order to act on cell growth and differentiation. In therapy, proteins are used because of their exquisite specificity, which allows direct molecular targeting. However, the stability of therapeutic proteins is known to be affected by adsorption to material surfaces and air interfaces. The growing use of automated devices for the production, handling and injection of therapeutics increases their transient exposure to interfaces, thus impacting their stability. Using insulin and monoclonal antibodies as model proteins, I will present the molecular mechanisms governing interfacial adsorption and affecting the stability of therapeutics. In particular, the effect of hydrophobic material surfaces and dynamic air interfaces will be illustrated. Finally, the role of surfactants that are added in formulations to guarantee therapeutic protein stability, is analysed.

Contact : michele.san-martin@grenoble-inp.fr