Review on porous materials for the thermal stabilization of proteins

Proteins, the key components of vaccines, enzymes and many types of therapeutics, are sensitive to denaturing and loss of structure when exposed to high temperatures. One way to thermally stabilize proteins is through immobilization on a porous support. In this review, a comparative analysis of the literature reports on the most relevant porous materials for protein thermal stability is presented. The materials fall into two main categories: inorganic porous materials and organic polymer materials. Inorganic porous materials for protein immobilization include metal oxides (e.g., aluminum oxides, and iron oxides), silicon dioxides, activated carbons and metal organic frameworks. Organic polymer materials include both natural and synthetic polymers, with natural polymers (e.g., agarose, chitosan and alginate) being by far the most widely studied type of material for enzyme immobilization. Support materials, support surface chemical modification agents, and degree of thermal stability are discussed in detail. The review may be helpful in selecting the optimum support material and surface modification process for a given protein to increase thermal stability.