Activatable Cell Penetrating Peptide-Conjugated Nanoparticles with Enhanced Permeability for Site-Specific Targeting Delivery of Anticancer Drug

A novel multitargeted self-assembling peptide-siRNA complex for simultaneous inhibition of SARS-CoV-2-host cell interaction and replication

Effective therapeutics are necessary for managing severe COVID-19 disease despite the availability of vaccines. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) can silence viral genes and restrict SARS-CoV-2 replication. Cell-penetrating peptides is a robust method for siRNA delivery, enhancing siRNA stability and targeting specific receptors. We developed a peptide HE25 that blocks SARS-CoV-2 replication by various mechanisms, including the binding of multiple receptors involved in the virus's internalization, such as ACE2, integrins and NRP1. HE25 not only acts as a vehicle to deliver the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase siRNA into cells but also facilitates their internalization through endocytosis. Once inside endosomes, the siRNA is released into the cytoplasm through the Histidine-proton sponge effect and the selective cleavage of HE25 by cathepsin B. These mechanisms effectively inhibited the replication of the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and the Omicron variant BA.5 in vitro. When HE25 was administered in vivo, either by intravenous injection or inhalation, it accumulated in lungs, veins and arteries, endothelium, or bronchial structure depending on the route. Furthermore, the siRNA/HE25 complex caused gene silencing in lung cells in vitro. The SARS-CoV-2 siRNA/HE25 complex is a promising therapeutic for COVID-19, and a similar strategy can be employed to combat future emerging viral diseases.

Cell-penetrating peptides with nanoparticles hybrid delivery vectors and their uptake pathways

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are molecules that improve the cellular uptake of various molecular payloads that do not easily traverse the cellular membrane. CPPs can be found in pharmaceutical and medical products. The vast majority of cell-penetrating chemicals that are discussed in published research are peptide based. The paper also delves into the various applications of hybrid vectors. Because CPPs are able to carry cargo across the cellular membrane, they are a viable candidate for use as a suitable carrier for a wide variety of cargoes, such as siRNA, nanoparticles, and others. In which we discuss the CPPs, their classification, uptake mechanisms, hybrid vector systems, nanoparticles and their uptake mechanisms, etc. Further in this paper, we discuss CPPs conjugated to Nanoparticles, Combining CPPs with lipids and polymeric Nanoparticles in A Conjugated System, CPPs conjugated to nanoparticles for therapeutic purposes, and potential therapeutic uses of CPPs as delivery molecules. Also discussed the preclinical and clinical use of CPPS, intracellular trafficking of nanoparticles, and activatable and bioconjugated CPPs.

Cell penetrating peptides: Highlighting points in cancer therapy

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), first identified in HIV a few decades ago, deserved great attention in the last two decades; especially to support the penetration of anticancer drug means. In the drug delivery discipline, they have been involved in various approaches from mixing with hydrophobic drugs to the use of genetically conjugated proteins. The early classification as cationic and amphipathic CPPs has been extended to a few more classes such as hydrophobic and cyclic CPPs so far. Developing potential sequences utilized almost all methods of modern science: choosing high-efficiency peptides from natural protein sequences, sequence-based comparison, amino acid substitution, obtaining chemical and/or genetic conjugations, in silico approaches, in vitro analysis, animal experiments, etc. The bottleneck effect in this discipline reveals the complications that modern science faces in drug delivery research. Most CPP-based drug delivery systems (DDSs) efficiently inhibited tumor volume and weight in mice, but only in rare cases reduced their levels and continued further processes. The integration of chemical synthesis into the development of CPPs made a significant contribution and even reached the clinical stage as a diagnostic tool. But constrained efforts still face serious problems in overcoming biobarriers to reach further achievements. In this work, we reviewed the roles of CPPs in anticancer drug delivery, focusing on their amino acid composition and sequences. As the most suitable point, we relied on significant changes in tumor volume in mice resulting from CPPs. We provide a review of individual CPPs and/or their derivatives in a separate subsection.

Matrix Metalloproteinase-Responsive Drug Delivery Systems

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a class of endopeptidases that are dependent on zinc and facilitate the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, thereby playing pivotal parts in human physiology and pathology. MMPs regulate normal tissue and cellular functions, including tissue development, remodeling, angiogenesis, bone formation, and wound healing. Several diseases, including cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, and nervous system disorders, have been linked to dysregulated expression of specific MMP subtypes, which can promote tumor progression, metastasis, and inflammation. Various MMP-responsive drug delivery and release systems have been developed by harnessing cleavage activities and overexpression of MMPs in affected regions. Herein, we review the structure, substrates, and physiological and pathological functions of various MMPs and highlight the strategies for designing MMP-responsive nanoparticles to improve the targeting efficiency, penetration, and protection of therapeutic payloads.

Ocular Delivery of Therapeutic Agents by Cell-Penetrating Peptides

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are short peptides with the ability to translocate through the cell membrane to facilitate their cellular uptake. CPPs can be used as drug-delivery systems for molecules that are difficult to uptake. Ocular drug delivery is challenging due to the structural and physiological complexity of the eye. CPPs may be tailored to overcome this challenge, facilitating cellular uptake and delivery to the targeted area. Retinal diseases occur at the posterior pole of the eye; thus, intravitreal injections are needed to deliver drugs at an effective concentration in situ. However, frequent injections have risks of causing vision-threatening complications. Recent investigations have focused on developing long-acting drugs and drug delivery systems to reduce the frequency of injections. In fact, conjugation with CPP could deliver FDA-approved drugs to the back of the eye, as seen by topical application in animal models. This review summarizes recent advances in CPPs, protein/peptide-based drugs for eye diseases, and the use of CPPs for drug delivery based on systematic searches in PubMed and clinical trials. We highlight targeted therapies and explore the potential of CPPs and peptide-based drugs for eye diseases.

Synthesis, characterization, and anticancer activity of protamine sulfate stabilized selenium nanoparticles

Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) have attracted much recent interest as nutraceuticals, while they face great challenges, such as poor stability and low cellular uptake efficiency. This study introduced a facile approach to synthesizing protamine sulfate (PS) functionalized selenium nanoparticles (PS-SeNPs) by using PS as a surface decorator. The monodisperse spherical PS-SeNPs with a particle size of 130 nm and a ζ-potential of +31 mV were ligated with PS through Se-N, Se-O bonds, and physical adsorption, which exhibits excellent physical stability against pH, temperature, and storage time. The positive surface charge of PS-SeNPs contributed to the enhancement of cellular uptake efficiency by endocytosis, which was 3-times higher than bare SeNPs. Compared to SeNPs (IC₅₀ = 17.675 μg/mL), PS-SeNPs could dramatically inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells with an IC₅₀ value of 5.507 μg/mL, as reflected by the induction of apoptosis, S phase arresting, overproduction of intracellular ROS, and depolarization of mitochondria membrane. Overall, these results demonstrated the great potential of PS-SeNPs that can be applied as a functional ingredient in foods and nutraceuticals.

Peptide-Drug Conjugates: A New Hope for Cancer Management

Cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide despite advances in treatment options for patients. As such, safe and effective therapeutics are required. Short peptides provide advantages to be used in cancer management due to their unique properties, amazing versatility, and progress in biotechnology to overcome peptide limitations. Several appealing peptide-based therapeutic strategies have been developed. Here, we provide an overview of peptide conjugates, the better equivalents of antibody-drug conjugates, as the next generation of drugs for required precise targeting, enhanced cellular permeability, improved drug selectivity, and reduced toxicity for the efficient treatment of cancers. We discuss the basic components of drug conjugates and their release action, including the release of cytotoxins from the linker. We also present peptide-drug conjugates under different stages of clinical development as well as regulatory and other challenges.

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs): an overview of applications for improving the potential of nanotherapeutics

In the field of nanotherapeutics, gaining cellular entry into the cytoplasm of the target cell continues to be an ultimate challenge. There are many physicochemical factors such as charge, size and molecular weight of the molecules and delivery vehicles, which restrict their cellular entry. Hence, to dodge such situations, a class of short peptides called cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) was brought into use. CPPs can effectively interact with the cell membrane and can assist in achieving the desired intracellular entry. Such strategy is majorly employed in the field of cancer therapy and diagnosis, but now it is also used for other purposes such as evaluation of atherosclerotic plaques, determination of thrombin levels and HIV therapy. Thus, the current review expounds on each of these mentioned aspects. Further, the review briefly summarizes the basic know-how of CPPs, their utility as therapeutic molecules, their use in cancer therapy, tumor imaging and their assistance to nanocarriers in improving their membrane penetrability. The review also discusses the challenges faced with CPPs pertaining to their stability and also mentions the strategies to overcome them. Thus, in a nutshell, this review will assist in understanding how CPPs can present novel possibilities for resolving the conventional issues faced with the present-day nanotherapeutics.

Recent Advances and Trends in Chemical CPP-Drug Conjugation Techniques

This review summarizes recent developments in conjugation techniques for the synthesis of cell-penetrating peptide (CPP)–drug conjugates targeting cancer cells. We will focus on small organic molecules as well as metal complexes that were used as cytostatic payloads. Moreover, two principle ways of coupling chemistry will be discussed direct conjugation as well as the use of bifunctional linkers. While direct conjugation of the drug to the CPP is still popular, the use of bifunctional linkers seems to gain increasing attention as it offers more advantages related to the linker chemistry. Thus, three main categories of linkers will be highlighted, forming either disulfide acid-sensitive or stimuli-sensitive bonds. All techniques will be thoroughly discussed by their pros and cons with the aim to help the reader in the choice of the optimal conjugation technique that might be used for the synthesis of a given CPP–drug conjugate

Rational Design of Cancer Nanomedicine for Simultaneous Stealth Surface and Enhanced Cellular Uptake

Owing to the complex and still not fully understood physiological environment, the development of traditional nanosized drug delivery systems is very challenging for precision cancer therapy. It is very difficult to control the in vivo distribution of nanoparticles after intravenous injection. The ideal drug nanocarriers should not only have stealth surface for prolonged circulation time but also possess enhanced cellular internalization in tumor sites. Unfortunately, the stealth surface and enhanced cellular uptake seem contradictory to each other. How to integrate the two opposite aspects into one system is a very herculean but meaningful task. As an alternative drug delivery strategy, chameleon-like drug delivery systems were developed to achieve long circulation time while maintaining enhanced cancer cell uptake. Such drug nanocarriers can "turn off" their internalization ability during circulation. However, the enhanced cellular uptake can be readily activated upon arriving at tumor tissues. In this way, stealth surface and enhanced uptake are of dialectical unity in drug delivery. In this review, we focus on the surface engineering of drug nanocarriers to obtain simultaneous stealth surfaces in circulation and enhanced uptake in tumors. The current strategies and ongoing developments, including programmed tumor-targeting strategies and some specific zwitterionic surfaces, will be discussed in detail.

Designing multifunctional cancer-targeted nanosystem for magnetic resonance molecular imaging-guided theranostics of lung cancer

The integration of diagnosis and therapy is an effective way to improve therapeutic effects for cancer patients, which has acquired widely attentions from researchers. Herein, a multifunctional drug-loaded nanosystem (F/A-PLGA@DOX/SPIO) has been designed and synthesized to reduce the side effects of traditional chemotherapy drugs and realize simultaneous tumor diagnosis and treatment. The surface modification of folic acid (FA) and activatable cell-penetrating peptide (ACPP) endows the nanosystem with excellent cancer targeting capabilities, thus reducing toxicity to normal organs. Besides, the F/A-PLGA@DOX/SPIO nanosystem can serve as an excellent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2-negative contrast agent. More importantly, according to in vitro experiments, the F/A-PLGA@DOX/SPIO nanosystem can promote the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within A549 lung cancer cells, inducing cell apoptosis, greatly enhancing the antineoplastic effect. Furthermore, with the help of MRI technology, the targeting imaging of the F/A-PLGA@DOX/SPIO nanosystem within tumors and the dynamic monitoring of medicine efficacy can be realized. Therefore, this study provided a multifunctional drug-loaded F/A-PLGA@DOX/SPIO targeted nanosystem for magnetic resonance molecular imaging-guided theranostics, which has excellent potential for the application in tumor diagnosis and therapy.

Tumor-targeting delivery of herb-based drugs with cell-penetrating/tumor-targeting peptide-modified nanocarriers

Cancer has become one of the leading causes of mortality globally. The major challenges of conventional cancer therapy are the failure of most chemotherapeutic agents to accumulate selectively in tumor cells and their severe systemic side effects. In the past three decades, a number of drug delivery approaches have been discovered to overwhelm the obstacles. Among these, nanocarriers have gained much attention for their excellent and efficient drug delivery systems to improve specific tissue/organ/cell targeting. In order to enhance targeting efficiency further and reduce limitations of nanocarriers, nanoparticle surfaces are functionalized with different ligands. Several kinds of ligand-modified nanomedicines have been reported. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are promising ligands, attracting the attention of researchers due to their efficiency to transport bioactive molecules intracellularly. However, their lack of specificity and in vivo degradation led to the development of newer types of CPP. Currently, activable CPP and tumor-targeting peptide (TTP)-modified nanocarriers have shown dramatically superior cellular specific uptake, cytotoxicity, and tumor growth inhibition. In this review, we discuss recent advances in tumor-targeting strategies using CPPs and their limitations in tumor delivery systems. Special emphasis is given to activable CPPs and TTPs. Finally, we address the application of CPPs and/or TTPs in the delivery of plant-derived chemotherapeutic agents.

An opportunistic route to success: Towards a change of paradigm to fully exploit the potential of cell-penetrating peptides

About 25years ago it was demonstrated that certain peptides possess the ability to cross the plasma membrane. This led to the development of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) as vectors to mediate the cellular entry of (macro-)molecules that do not show cell entry by themselves. Nonetheless, in spite of an early bloom of promising pre-clinical studies, not a single CPP-based drug has been approved, yet. It is a paradigm in CPP research that the peptides are taken up by virtually all cells. In exploratory research and early preclinical development, this assumption guides the choice of the therapeutic target. However, while this indiscriminatory uptake may be the case for tissue culture experiments, in an organism this is clearly not the case. Biodistribution analyses demonstrate that CPPs only target a very limited number of cells and many tissues are hardly reached at all. Here, we review biodistribution analyses of CPPs and CPP-based drug delivery systems. Based on this analysis we propose a paradigm change towards a more opportunistic approach in CPP research. The application of CPPs should focus on those pathophysiologies for which the relevant target cells have been shown to be reached in vivo.

Cell-penetrating peptide conjugates to enhance the antitumor effect of paclitaxel on drug-resistant lung cancer

To conquer the drug resistance of tumors and the poor solubility of paclitaxel (PTX), two PTX-cell-penetrating peptide conjugates (PTX-CPPs), PTX-TAT and PTX-LMWP, were synthesized and evaluated for the first time. Compared with free PTX, PTX-CPPs displayed significantly enhanced cellular uptake, elevated cell toxicity, increased cell apoptosis, and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) in both A549 and A549T cells. PTX-LMWP exhibited a stronger inhibitory effect than PTX-TAT in A549T cells. Analysis of cell-cycle distribution showed that PTX-LMWP influenced mitosis in drug-resistant A549T tumor cells via a different mechanism than PTX. PTX-CPPs were more efficient in inhibiting tumor growth in tumor-bearing mice than free PTX, which suggested their better in vivo antitumor efficacy. Hence, this study demonstrates that PTX-CPPs, particularly PTX-LMWP, have outstanding potential for inhibiting the growth of tumors and are a promising approach for treating lung cancer, especially drug-resistant lung cancer.

Nanoparticles and targeted drug delivery in cancer therapy

Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy are the main common anti-tumor therapeutic approaches. However, the non-specific targeting of cancer cells has made these approaches non-effective in the significant number of patients. Non-specific targeting of malignant cells also makes indispensable the application of the higher doses of drugs to reach the tumor region. Therefore, there are two main barriers in the way to reach the tumor area with maximum efficacy. The first, inhibition of drug delivery to healthy non-cancer cells and the second, the direct conduction of drugs into tumor site. Nanoparticles (NPs) are the new identified tools by which we can deliver drugs into tumor cells with minimum drug leakage into normal cells. Conjugation of NPs with ligands of cancer specific tumor biomarkers is a potent therapeutic approach to treat cancer diseases with the high efficacy. It has been shown that conjugation of nanocarriers with molecules such as antibodies and their variable fragments, peptides, nucleic aptamers, vitamins, and carbohydrates can lead to effective targeted drug delivery to cancer cells and thereby cancer attenuation. In this review, we will discuss on the efficacy of the different targeting approaches used for targeted drug delivery to malignant cells by NPs.

Assessing the interaction between surfactant-like peptides and lipid membranes

Positively charged A_nK peptides have a higher preference for interacting with the DPPG membrane than remaining hydrated in bulk water.

Tumor Microenvironment and Angiogenic Blood Vessels Dual-Targeting for Enhanced Anti-Glioma Therapy

Advances in active targeting drug delivery system (DDS) have revolutionized glioma diagnosis and therapy. However, the lack of the sufficient targets on glioma cells and limited penetration capability of DDS have significantly compromised the treatment efficacy. In this study, by taking advantages of the abundant extracellular matrix-derived heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) and enhanced tumor penetration ability mediated by neuropilin-1 (NRP-1) protein, we reported the ATWLPPR and CGKRK peptide dual-decorated nanoparticulate DDS (designated AC-NP) to achieve angiogenic blood vessels and tumor microenvironment dual-targeting effect. The resulted AC-NP displayed the particle size of 123 ± 19.47 nm. Enhanced cellular association of AC-NP was achieved on HUVEC cells and U87MG cells. AC-NP was internalized via caveolin- and lipid raft-mediated mechanism with the involvement of energy and lysosome in HUVEC cells and via caveolin- and lipid raft-mediated pathway with the participation of energy, microtubulin, and lysosome in U87MG cells. After loading with anticancer drug, paclitaxel (PTX), the enhanced apoptosis induction and antiproliferative activity were achieved by AC-NP. Furthermore, in vitro U87MG tumor spheroids assays showed a deeper penetration and an enhanced inhibitory effect against the U87MG tumor spheroids achieved by AC-NP. In vivo animal experiment showed that decoration of AC peptide on the nanoparticulate DDS resulted in extensive accumulation at glioma site and improved anti-glioma efficacy. Collectively, the results suggested that AC-NP holds great promise to serve as an effective tumor blood vessel and tumor microenvironment dual-targeting DDS with enhanced penetration capability, holding great potential in improving anti-glioma efficacy.

Hierarchical Targeting Strategy for Enhanced Tumor Tissue Accumulation/Retention and Cellular Internalization

Targeted delivery of therapeutic agents is an important way to improve the therapeutic index and reduce side effects. To design nanoparticles for targeted delivery, both enhanced tumor tissue accumulation/retention and enhanced cellular internalization should be considered simultaneously. So far, there have been very few nanoparticles with immutable structures that can achieve this goal efficiently. Hierarchical targeting, a novel targeting strategy based on stimuli responsiveness, shows good potential to enhance both tumor tissue accumulation/retention and cellular internalization. Here, the recent design and development of hierarchical targeting nanoplatforms, based on changeable particle sizes, switchable surface charges and activatable surface ligands, will be introduced. In general, the targeting moieties in these nanoplatforms are not activated during blood circulation for efficient tumor tissue accumulation, but re-activated by certain internal or external stimuli in the tumor microenvironment for enhanced cellular internalization.

One-pot synthesis of folic acid encapsulated upconversion nanoscale metal organic frameworks for targeting, imaging and pH responsive drug release

A folic acid conjugated upconversion nanoscale metal organic framework is developed as a smart material in one step for targeted anticancer drug delivery.

Cell-penetrating peptides transport therapeutics into cells

Nearly 30years ago, certain small, relatively nontoxic peptides were discovered to be capable of traversing the cell membrane. These cell-penetrating peptides, as they are now called, have been shown to not only be capable of crossing the cell membrane themselves but can also carry many different therapeutic agents into cells, including small molecules, plasmid DNA, siRNA, therapeutic proteins, viruses, imaging agents, and other various nanoparticles. Many cell-penetrating peptides have been derived from natural proteins, but several other cell-penetrating peptides have been developed that are either chimeric or completely synthetic. How cell-penetrating peptides are internalized into cells has been a topic of debate, with some peptides seemingly entering cells through an endocytic mechanism and others by directly penetrating the cell membrane. Although the entry mechanism is still not entirely understood, it seems to be dependent on the peptide type, the peptide concentration, the cargo the peptide transports, and the cell type tested. With new intracellular disease targets being discovered, cell-penetrating peptides offer an exciting approach for delivering drugs to these intracellular targets. There are hundreds of cell-penetrating peptides being studied for drug delivery, and ongoing studies are demonstrating their success both in vitro and in vivo.

Cell-penetrating peptides and their analogues as novel nanocarriers for drug delivery

INTRODUCTION

The impermeability of biological membranes is a major obstacle in drug delivery; however, some peptides have transition capabilities of biomembranes. In recent decades, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been introduced as novel biocarriers that are able to translocate into the cells. CPPs are biologically potent tools for non-invasive cellular internalization of cargo molecules. Nevertheless, the non-specificity of these peptides presents a restriction for targeting drug delivery; therefore, a peptidic nanocarrier sensitive to matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) has been prepared, called activatable cell-penetrating peptide (ACPP). In addition to the cell-penetrating peptide dendrimer (DCPP), other analogues of CPPs have been synthesized.

METHODS

In this study, the most recent literature in the field of biomedical application of CPPs and their analogues, ACPP and DCCP, were reviewed.

RESULTS

This review focuses on CPP and its analogues, ACPP and DCPP, as novel nanocarriers for drug delivery. In addition, nanoconjugates and bioconjugates of these peptide sequences are discussed.

CONCLUSION

DCCP, branched CPPs, compared to linear peptides have advantages such as resistance to rapid biodegradation, high loading capacities and large-scale production capability.

Improve bile duct-targeted drug delivery and therapeutic efficacy for cholangiocarcinoma by cucurbitacin B loaded phospholipid complex modified with berberine hydrochloride

In present study, a novel phospholipid complex loaded cucurbitacin B modified with berberine hydrochloride (CUB-PLC-BER) was prepared by a simple solvent evaporation method with the aim of improving bile duct-targeted drug delivery and therapeutic efficacy for cholangiocarcinoma (CC). The complex's physicochemical properties were systemically investigated in terms of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared absorption spectroscopy (IR). In vivo and in vitro antitumor studies, CUB-PLC-BER and the unmodified cucurbitacin B-phospholipid complex (CUB-PLC) presented stronger antitumor efficacy against human cholangiocarcinoma cells (QBC939 cells) than free cucurbitacin B (CUB), while phospholipids (PL) itself had no significant toxicity. Besides that, CUB-PLC showed the advantage over the free CUB and CUB-PLC-BER with regard to the inhibition of tumor growth in vivo antitumor study. Failure to establish the orthotopic CC model, the study attempted to measure the level of CUB in plasma and in bile to explore bile duct-targeted effect indirectly. In the pharmacokinetics study in rats, the average values of Cmax and AUC0-8h of CUB-PLC-BER group in rat bile were higher than those of CUB-PLC, while an opposite result was found in plasma. Meanwhile, the Cmax, AUC0-8h and AUC0-24h of CUB were the least both in plasma and in bile. The results indicated that the CUB-PLC-BER tended to provide a high and prolonged drug concentration to bile duct, and PL played a central role in internalizing CUB into cells to improve the water insoluble drug's permeability, which was of great benefit to enhance the bioavailability of CUB and improve therapeutic efficacy of CC. These results elucidated the potential of CUB-PLC-BER as drug delivery system for improving bile duct-targeted and therapeutic efficacy for CC.

Molecular dynamics study of surfactant-like peptide based nanostructures

Surfactant-like peptide (SLP) based nanostructures are investigated using all-atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We report structure properties of nanostructures belonging to the ANK peptide group. In particular, the mathematical models for the two A3K membranes, A6K nanotube, and A9K nanorod were developed. Our MD simulation results are consistent with the experimental data, indicating that A3K membranes are stable in two different configurations: (1) SLPs are tilted relative to the normal membrane plane; (2) SLPs are interdigitated. The former configuration is energetically more stable. The cylindrical nanostructures feature a certain order of the A6K peptides. In turn, the A9K nanorod does not exhibit any long-range ordering. Both nanotube and nanorod structure contain large amounts of water inside. Consequently, these nanostructures behave similar to hydrogels. This property may be important in the context of biotechnology. Binding energy analysis-in terms of Coulomb and van der Waals contributions-unveils an increase as the peptide size increases. The electrostatic interaction constitutes 70-75% of the noncovalent attraction energy between SLPs. The nanotubular structures are notably stable, confirming that A6K peptides preferentially form nanotubes and A9K peptides preferentially form nanorods.