Rational Design of de novo CCL2 Binding Peptides

Therapeutic peptides for coronary artery diseases: in silico methods and current perspectives

Many drug formulations containing small active molecules are used for the treatment of coronary artery disease, which affects a significant part of the world's population. However, the inadequate profile of these molecules in terms of therapeutic efficacy has led to the therapeutic use of protein and peptide-based biomolecules with superior properties, such as target-specific affinity and low immunogenicity, in critical diseases. Protein‒protein interactions, as a consequence of advances in molecular techniques with strategies involving the combined use of in silico methods, have enabled the design of therapeutic peptides to reach an advanced dimension. In particular, with the advantages provided by protein/peptide structural modeling, molecular docking for the study of their interactions, molecular dynamics simulations for their interactions under physiological conditions and machine learning techniques that can work in combination with all these, significant progress has been made in approaches to developing therapeutic peptides that can modulate the development and progression of coronary artery diseases. In this scope, this review discusses in silico methods for the development of peptide therapeutics for the treatment of coronary artery disease and strategies for identifying the molecular mechanisms that can be modulated by these designs and provides a comprehensive perspective for future studies.

Self-Assembling Peptides with Insulin-Like Growth Factor Mimicry

Growth factor (GF) mimicry involves recapitulating the signaling of larger molecules or cells. Although GF mimicry holds considerable promise in tissue engineering and drug design applications, difficulties in targeting the signaling molecule to the site of delivery and dissociation of mimicking peptides from their target receptors continue to limit its clinical application. To address these challenges, we utilized a self-assembling peptide (SAP) platform to generate synthetic insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-signaling, self-assembling GFs. Our peptide hydrogels are biocompatible and bind target IGF receptors in a dose-dependent fashion, activate proangiogenic signaling, and facilitate formation of angiogenic microtubules in vitro. Furthermore, infiltrated hydrogels are stable for weeks to months. We conclude that the enhanced targeting and long-term stability of our SAP/GF mimicry implants may improve the efficacy and safety of future GF mimic therapeutics.