Rapid discovery of self-assembling peptides with one-bead one-compound peptide library

A Novel Confocal Scanning Protein-Protein Interaction Assay (PPI-CONA) Reveals Exceptional Selectivity and Specificity of CC0651, a Small Molecule Binding Enhancer of the Weak Interaction between the E2 Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzyme CDC34A and Ubiquitin

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are some of the most challenging target classes in drug discovery. Highly sensitive detection techniques are required for the identification of chemical modulators of PPIs. Here, we introduce PPI confocal nanoscanning (PPI-CONA), a miniaturized, microbead based high-resolution fluorescence imaging assay. We demonstrate the capabilities of PPI-CONA by detecting low affinity ternary complex formation between the human CDC34A ubiquitin-conjugating (E2) enzyme, ubiquitin, and CC0651, a small molecule enhancer of the CDC34A-ubiquitin interaction. We further exemplify PPI-CONA with an E2 enzyme binding study on CC0651 and a CDC34A binding specificity study of a series of CC0651 analogues. Our results indicate that CC0651 is highly selective toward CDC34A. We further demonstrate how PPI-CONA can be applied to screening very low affinity interactions. PPI-CONA holds potential for high-throughput screening for modulators of PPI targets and characterization of their affinity, specificity, and selectivity.

Reactivity-Tunable Fluorescent Platform for Selective and Biocompatible Modification of Cysteine or Lysine

Chemoselective modification of specific residues within a given protein poses a significant challenge, as the microenvironment of amino acid residues in proteins is variable. Developing a universal molecular platform with tunable chemical warheads can provide powerful tools for precisely labeling specific amino acids in proteins. Cysteine and lysine are hot targets for chemoselective modification, but current cysteine/lysine-selective warheads face challenges due to cross-reactivity and unstable reaction products. In this study, a versatile fluorescent platform is developed for highly selective modification of cysteine/lysine under biocompatible conditions. Chloro- or phenoxy-substituted NBSe derivatives effectively labeled cysteine residues in the cellular proteome with high specificity. This finding also led to the development of phenoxy-NBSe phototheragnostic for the diagnosis and activatable photodynamic therapy of GSH-overexpressed cancer cells. Conversely, alkoxy-NBSe derivatives are engineered to selectively react with lysine residues in the cellular environment, exhibiting excellent anti-interfering ability against thiols. Leveraging a proximity-driven approach, alkoxy-NBSe probes are successfully designed to demonstrate their utility in bioimaging of lysine deacetylase activity. This study also achieves integrating a small photosensitizer into lysine residues of proteins in a regioselective manner, achieving photoablation of cancer cells activated by overexpressed proteins.

Microarray Chip-Based High-Throughput Screening of Neurofilament Light Chain Self-Assembling Peptide for Noninvasive Monitoring of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) starts decades before cognitive symptoms develop. Easily accessible and cost-effective biomarkers that accurately reflect AD pathology are essential for both monitoring and therapeutics of AD. Neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels in blood and cerebrospinal fluid are increased in AD more than a decade before the expected onset, thus providing one of the most promising blood biomarkers for monitoring of AD. The clinical practice of employing single-molecule array (Simoa) technology for routine use in patient care is limited by the high costs. Herein, we developed a microarray chip-based high-throughput screening method and screened an attractive self-assembling peptide targeting NfL. Through directly "imprinting" and further analyzing the sequences, morphology, and affinity of the identified self-assembling peptides, the Pep-NfL peptide nanosheet with high binding affinity toward NfL (KD = 1.39 × 10-9 mol/L), high specificity, and low cost was characterized. The superior binding ability of Pep-NfL was confirmed in AD mouse models and cell lines. In the clinical setting, the Pep-NfL peptide nanosheets hold great potential for discriminating between patients with AD (P < 0.001, n = 37), mild cognitive impairment (P < 0.05, n = 26), and control groups (n = 30). This work provides a high-throughput, high-sensitivity, and economical system for noninvasive tracking of AD to monitor neurodegeneration at different stages of disease. The obtained Pep-NfL peptide nanosheet may be useful for assessing dynamic changes in plasma NfL concentrations to evaluate disease-modifying therapies as a surrogate end point of neurodegeneration in clinical trials.

A robotic system for automated chemical synthesis of therapeutic agents

The development of novel compounds for tissue-specific targeting and imaging is often impeded by a lack of lead compounds and the availability of reliable chemistry. Automated chemical synthesis systems provide a potential solution by enabling reliable, repeated access to large compound libraries for screening. Here we report an integrated solid-phase combinatorial chemistry system created using commercial and customized robots. Our goal is to optimize reaction parameters, such as varying temperature, shaking, microwave irradiation, aspirating and dispensing large-sized solid beads, and handling different washing solvents for separation and purification. This automated system accommodates diverse chemical reactions such as peptide synthesis and conventional coupling reactions. To confirm its functionality and reproducibility, 20 nerve-specific contrast agents for biomedical imaging were systematically and repeatedly synthesized and compared to other nerve-targeted agents using molecular fingerprinting and Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection, which lays the foundation for creating reliable and reproductive chemical libraries in bioimaging and nanomedicine.

High-Throughput Screening of pH-Dependent β-sheet Self-Assembling Peptide

pH-dependent peptide biomaterials hold tremendous potential for cell delivery and tissue engineering. However, identification of responsive self-assembling sequences with specified secondary structure remains a challenge. In this work, An experimental procedure based on the one-bead one-compound (OBOC) combinatorial library is developed to rapidly screen self-assembling β-sheet peptides at neutral aqueous solution (pH 7.5) and disassemble at weak acidic condition (pH 6.5). Using the hydrophobic fluorescent molecule thioflavin T (ThT) as a probe, resin beads displaying self-assembling peptides show fluorescence under pH 7.5 due to the insertion of ThT into the hydrophobic domain, and are further cultured in pH 6.5 solution. The beads with extinguished fluorescence are selected. Three heptapeptides are identified that can self-assemble into nanofibers or nanoparticles at pH 7.5 and disassemble at pH 6.5. P1 (LVEFRHY) shows a rapid acid response and morphology transformation with pH modulation. Changes in the charges of histidine and hydrophobic phenyl motif of phenylalanine may play important roles in the formation of pH-responsive β-sheet nanofiber. This high-throughput screening method provides an efficient way to identify pH-dependent β-sheet self-assembling peptide and gain insights into structural design of such nanomaterials.

Intelligent Biomaterialomics: Molecular Design, Manufacturing, and Biomedical Applications

Materialomics integrates experiment, theory, and computation in a high-throughput manner, and has changed the paradigm for the research and development of new functional materials. Recently, with the rapid development of high-throughput characterization and machine-learning technologies, the establishment of biomaterialomics that tackles complex physiological behaviors has become accessible. Breakthroughs in the clinical translation of nanoparticle-based therapeutics and vaccines have been observed. Herein, recent advances in biomaterials, including polymers, lipid-like materials, and peptides/proteins, discovered through high-throughput screening or machine learning-assisted methods, are summarized. The molecular design of structure-diversified libraries; high-throughput characterization, screening, and preparation; and, their applications in drug delivery and clinical translation are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the prospects and main challenges in future biomaterialomics and high-throughput screening development are highlighted.

Supramolecular Mimotope Peptide Nanofibers Promote Antibody-Ligand Polyvalent and Instantaneous Recognition for Biopharmaceutical Analysis

Peptide-based supramolecules exhibit great potential in various fields due to their improved target recognition ability and versatile functions. However, they still suffer from numerous challenges for the biopharmaceutical analysis, including poor self-assembly ability, undesirable ligand-antibody binding rates, and formidable target binding barriers caused by ligand crowding. To tackle these issues, a "polyvalent recognition" strategy employing the CD20 mimotope peptide derivative NBD-FFVLR-GS-WPRWLEN (acting on the CDR domains of rituximab) was proposed to develop supramolecular nanofibers for target antibody recognition. These nanofibers exhibited rapid self-assembly within only 1 min and robust stability. Their binding affinity (179 nM) for rituximab surpassed that of the monomeric peptide (7 μM) by over 38-fold, highlighting that high ligand density and potential polyvalent recognition can efficiently overcome the target binding barriers of traditional supramolecules. Moreover, these nanofibers exhibited an amazing "instantaneous capture" rate (within 15 s), a high recovery (93 ± 3%), and good specificity for the target antibody. High-efficiency enrichment of rituximab was achieved from cell culture medium with good recovery and reproducibility. Intriguingly, these peptide nanofibers combined with bottom-up proteomics were successful in tracking the deamidation of asparagine 55 (from 10 to 16%) on the rituximab heavy chain after 21 day incubation in human serum. In summary, this study may open up an avenue for the development of versatile mimotope peptide supramolecules for biorecognition and bioanalysis of biopharmaceuticals.

Computational Design of Peptide Assemblies

With the ongoing development of peptide self-assembling materials, there is growing interest in exploring novel functional peptide sequences. From short peptides to long polypeptides, as the functionality increases, the sequence space is also expanding exponentially. Consequently, attempting to explore all functional sequences comprehensively through experience and experiments alone has become impractical. By utilizing computational methods, especially artificial intelligence enhanced molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and de novo peptide design, there has been a significant expansion in the exploration of sequence space. Through these methods, a variety of supramolecular functional materials, including fibers, two-dimensional arrays, nanocages, etc., have been designed by meticulously controlling the inter- and intramolecular interactions. In this review, we first provide a brief overview of the current main computational methods and then focus on the computational design methods for various self-assembled peptide materials. Additionally, we introduce some representative protein self-assemblies to offer guidance for the design of self-assembling peptides.

Chemical Strategies towards the Development of Effective Anticancer Peptides

Cancer is increasingly recognized as one of the primary causes of death and has become a multifaceted global health issue. Modern medical science has made significant advancements in the diagnosis and therapy of cancer over the past decade. The detrimental side effects, lack of efficacy, and multidrug resistance of conventional cancer therapies have created an urgent need for novel anticancer therapeutics or treatments with low cytotoxicity and drug resistance. The pharmaceutical groups have recognized the crucial role that peptide therapeutic agents can play in addressing unsatisfied healthcare demands and how these become great supplements or even preferable alternatives to biological therapies and small molecules. Anticancer peptides, as a vibrant therapeutic strategy against various cancer cells, have demonstrated incredible anticancer potential due to high specificity and selectivity, low toxicity, and the ability to target the surface of traditional "undruggable" proteins. This review will provide the research progression of anticancer peptides, mainly focusing on the discovery and modifications along with the optimization and application of these peptides in clinical practice.

Synthesizing biomaterials in living organisms

Living organisms fabricate biomacromolecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins by the self-assembly process. The research on the mechanism of biomacromolecule formation also inspires the exploration of in vivo synthesized biomaterials. By elaborate design, artificial building blocks or precursors can self-assemble or polymerize into functional biomaterials within living organisms. In recent decades, these so-called in vivo synthesized biomaterials have achieved extensive applications in cell-fate manipulation, disease theranostics, bioanalysis, cellular surface engineering, and tissue regeneration. In this review, we classify strategies for in vivo synthesis into non-covalent, covalent, and genetic types. The development of these approaches is based on the chemical principles of supramolecular chemistry and synthetic chemistry, biological cues such as enzymes and microenvironments, and the means of synthetic biology. By summarizing the design principles in detail, some insights into the challenges and opportunities in this field are provided to  enlighten further research.

Binding-induced fibrillogenesis peptide inhibits RANKL-mediated osteoclast activation against osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is primarily driven by an imbalance between bone resorption and formation, stemming from enhanced osteoclast activity during bone remodeling. At the crux of this mechanism lies the pivotal RANK-RANKL-OPG axis. In our study, we designed two binding-induced fibrillogenesis (BIF) peptides, namely BIFP and BIFY, targeting RANK and RANKL, respectively. These BIF peptides, with distinct hydrophilic and hydrophobic characteristics, assemble into nanoparticles (NPs) in aqueous solution. Through specific ligand-receptor interactions, these NPs efficiently target and bind to specific proteins, resulting in the formation of fibrous networks that effectively inhibit the RANK-RANKL associations. Experiments have confirmed the potent inhibitory effects of peptides on both osteoclast differentiation and function. Compared with the +RANKL controls, BIFP and BIFY demonstrated a more remarkable reduction in tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP)-positive cells, achieving an impressive decline of 82.8% and 70.7%, respectively. Remarkably, the administration of BIFP led to a substantial reduction in bone resorption pit area by 17.4%, compared to a significant increase of 92.4% in the +RANKL groups. In vivo experiments on an ovariectomized mouse model demonstrated that the BIFP treated group exhibited an impressive 2.6-fold elevation in bone mineral density and an astounding 4.0-fold enhancement in bone volume/total volume as against those of the PBS-treated group. Overall, BIF peptides demonstrate remarkable abilities to impede osteoclast differentiation, presenting promising prospects for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Protein and Peptide-Based Nanotechnology for Enhancing Stability, Bioactivity, and Delivery of Anthocyanins

Anthocyanin, a unique natural polyphenol, is abundant in plants and widely utilized in biomedicine, cosmetics, and the food industry due to its excellent antioxidant, anticancer, antiaging, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the degradation of anthocyanin in an extreme environment, such as alkali pH, high temperatures, and metal ions, limits its physiochemical stabilities and bioavailabilities. Encapsulation and combining anthocyanin with biomaterials could efficiently stabilize anthocyanin for protection. Promisingly, natural or artificially designed proteins and peptides with favorable stabilities, excellent biocapacity, and wide sources are potential candidates to stabilize anthocyanin. This review focuses on recent progress, strategies, and perspectives on protein and peptide for anthocyanin functionalization and delivery, i.e., formulation technologies, physicochemical stability enhancement, cellular uptake, bioavailabilities, and biological activities development. Interestingly, due to the simplicity and diversity of peptide structure, the interaction mechanisms between peptide and anthocyanin could be illustrated. This work sheds light on the mechanism of protein/peptide-anthocyanin nanoparticle construction and expands on potential applications of anthocyanin in nutrition and biomedicine.

Nano Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs) with Anti-Hook Effect for Tumor Therapy

Proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) is an emerging pharmacological modality with innovated post-translational protein degradation capabilities. However, off-target induced unintended tissue effects and intrinsic "hook effect" hinder PROTAC biotechnology to be maturely developed. Herein, an intracellular fabricated nano proteolysis targeting chimeras (Nano-PROTACs) modality with a center-spoke degradation network for achieving efficient dose-dependent protein degradation in tumor is reported. The PROTAC precursors are triggered by higher GSH concentrations inside tumor cells, which subsequently in situ self-assemble into Nano-PROTACs through intermolecular hydrogen bond interactions. The fibrous Nano-PROTACs can form effective polynary complexes and E3 ligases degradation network with multi-binding sites, achieving dose-dependent protein degradation with "anti-hook effect". The generality and efficacy of Nano-PROTACs are validated by degrading variable protein of interest (POI) such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and androgen receptor (AR) in a wide-range dose-dependent manner with a 95 % degradation rate and long-lasting potency up to 72 h in vitro. Significantly, Nano-PROTACs achieve in vivo dose-dependent protein degradation up to 79 % and tumor growth inhibition in A549 and LNCap xenograft mice models, respectively. Taking advantages of in situ self-assembly strategy, the Nano-PROTACs provide a generalizable platform to promote precise clinical translational application of PROTAC.

Influence of pH on the self-assembly of diphenylalanine peptides: molecular insights from coarse-grained simulations

Nanostructures fabricated from peptide self-assemblies are attracting increasing attention owing to their possible applications in biology and nanotechnology. A known example is an aromatic dipeptide (diphenylalanine, FF) which is extracted from Alzheimer's β-amyloid polypeptide as the core recognition motif for molecular self-assembly. Many studies have been carried out to organize FF peptides into various functional ordered nanostructures. For potential applications of self-assembled FF-based nanomaterials, it becomes important to consider some influencing factors (e.g., solvents, peptide concentrations, pH, temperature, etc.) on the self-assembly process. Among these factors, the effect of pH on the self-assembly process of FF peptides into assembled nanostructures through simulation studies is the main focus of the present work. In the current study, we have investigated the assembly pathway of 1000 FF peptides and qualitatively evaluated the morphological changes of FF-based nanostructures at different pH values by performing extensive coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG-MD) simulations. Structural analyses suggest that FF peptides can spontaneously assemble into nanotubes with different shapes under acidic, neutral and basic conditions. Based on the analysis of FF nanostructure formation pathways in different pH solutions, the self-assembly of the nanotube involves the aggregation of molecules to form a bilayer, the curling of a bilayer to form a vesicle and the transformation of a vesicle into a tubular structure. It is noted that a flat hollow columnar structure is observed as a special intermediate state during the transformation process of a vesicle-like to a tube-like structure. Energetic analysis suggests that the aggregation of FF peptides is driven by the vdW interactions but the aggregation shape is mainly affected by the electrostatic interactions. Overall, this study provides further understanding of the self-assembly behavior of aromatic short peptide derivatives in different pH solutions.

Bioinspired Tumor-Targeting and Biomarker-Activatable Cell-Material Interfacing System Enhances Osteosarcoma Treatment via Biomineralization

Osteosarcoma is an aggressive malignant tumor that primarily develops in children and adolescents. The conventional treatments for osteosarcoma often exert negative effects on normal cells, and chemotherapeutic drugs, such as platinum, can lead to multidrug resistance in tumor cells. Herein, this work reports a new bioinspired tumor-targeting and enzyme-activatable cell-material interface system based on DDDEEK-pY-phenylboronic acid (SAP-pY-PBA) conjugates. Using this tandem-activation system, this work selectively regulates the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) triggered anchoring and aggregation of SAP-pY-PBA conjugates on the cancer cell surface and the subsequent formation of the supramolecular hydrogel. This hydrogel layer can efficiently kill osteosarcoma cells by enriching calcium ions from tumor cells and forming a dense hydroxyapatite layer. Owing to the novel antitumor mechanism, this strategy neither hurts normal cells nor causes multidrug resistance in tumor cells, thereby showing an enhanced tumor treatment effect than the classical antitumor drug, doxorubicin (DOX). The outcome of this research demonstrates a new antitumor strategy based on a bioinspired enzyme-responsive biointerface combining supramolecular hydrogels with biomineralization.

Supermolecular Nanoentities of Vitamin B12 Derivative as a Link in the Evolution of the Parent Molecules During Self-Assembly at the Air-Water Interface

Nanoarchitectures with promising properties have now been formed from many important biomolecules. However, the preparation of nanoparticles of vitamin B₁₂ and its derivatives remains an ongoing research challenge. This paper describes the formation of supermolecular nanoentities (SMEs) of vitamin B₁₂ derivatives, unique nanoparticles with strong noncovalent intermolecular interactions, emerging properties, and activity. These were created by a nanoarchitectonic approach using directed assembly of layers at the air-water interface as a link in the chain of evolution of the parent molecules under specially created conditions. Such layers can be represented as a nanocosm, where, at a critical density, the assemblies act as nanoreactors in which the transformation of the original material occurs. The discovered SMEs not only replicate the functioning of vitamin B₁₂ assemblies with proteins in living organisms and act as vitamin B₁₂-depended enzymes but also demonstrate important advantages over vitamin B₁₂. They are more efficient in oxygen reduction/evolution reactions and in transformation into other forms. These SMEs, in performing advanced tasks, are an alternative to widely used materials based on noble metals for catalysis, medicine, and environment protection. Our findings open new perspectives both for the fabrication of novel SMEs of biomolecules and for a better understanding of the evolution of biomolecules in nature.

In Vivo Anchoring Bis-Pyrene Probe for Molecular Imaging of Early Gastric Cancer by Endoscopic Techniques

With the development of blue laser endoscopy (BLE) technique, it's often used to diagnose early gastric cancer (EGC) by the morphological changes of blood vessels through BLE. However, EGC is still not obvious to identify, resulting in a high rate of missed diagnosis. Molecular imaging can show the changes in early tumors at molecular level, which provides a possibility for diagnosing EGC. Therefore, developing a probe that visually monitors blood vessels of EGC under BLE is particularly necessary. Herein, a bis-pyrene (BP) based nanoprobe (BP-FFVLK-(PEG)-RGD, M₁ ) is designed, which can target angiogenesis and self-assemble into fibers in situ, resulting in stable and long-term retention in tumor. Moreover, M₁ probe can emit yellow-green fluorescence for imaging under BLE. M₁ probe is confirmed to steadily remain in tumor for up to 96 hours in mice transplanted subcutaneously. In addition, the M₁ probe is able to target angiogenesis for molecular imaging of isolated human gastric cancer tissue under BLE. Finally, M₁ probe i.v. injected into primary gastric cancer model rabbits successfully highlighted the tumor site under BLE, which is confirmed by pathological analysis. It's the first time to develop a probe for diagnosing EGC by visualizing angiogenesis under BLE, showing great clinical significance.

Localized Instillation Enables In Vivo Screening of Targeting Peptides Using One-Bead One-Compound Technology

The One-Bead One-Compound (OBOC) library screening is an efficient technique for identifying targeting peptides. However, due to the relatively large bead size, it is challenging for the OBOC method to be applied for in vivo screening. Herein, we report an in vivo Localized Instillation Beads library (LIB) screening method to discover targeting peptides with the OBOC technique. Inspired by localized instillation, we constructed a cavity inside of a transplanted tumor of a mouse. Then, the OBOC heptapeptide library was injected and incubated inside the tumor cavity. After an efficient elution process, the retained beads were gathered, from which three MDA-MB-231 tumor-targeting heptapeptides were discovered. It was verified that the best peptide had 1.9-fold higher tumor accumulation than the commonly used targeting peptide RGD in vivo. Finally, two targeting proteins were discovered as potential targets of our targeting peptide to the MDA-MB-231 tumor. The in vivo LIB screening method expands the scope of OBOC peptide screening applications to discover targeting peptides in vivo feasibly and reliably.

Ophthalmic Solution of Smart Supramolecular Peptides to Capture Semaphorin 4D against Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of vision loss in working age population. Intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF antibody is widely used in clinical practice. However, about 27% of patients show poor response to anti-VEGF therapy and about 50% of these patients continue to have macular thickening. Frequent intravitreal injections of antibody may increase the chance of endophthalmitis and cause visual loss or even blindness once happened. Therefore, there is a greatly urgent need for novel noninvasive target to treat DR clinically. Here, the formulation of a smart supramolecular peptide (SSP) eye drop for DR treatment that is effective via specifically identifying and capturing soluble semaphorin 4D (sSema4D), a strongly pro-angiogenesis and exudates factor, is reported. The SSP nanostructures encapsulate sSema4D so that all biological effects mediated by three receptors of sSema4D are inhibited, thereby significantly alleviating pathological retinal angiogenesis and exudates in DR. Moreover, it is found that combination of SSPs eye drop and anti-VEGF injection shows better therapeutic effect over anti-VEGF treatment alone. Overall, SSP eye drop provide an alternative and effective method for noninvasive treatment for DR.

An intelligent peptide recognizes and traps Mycobacterium tuberculosis to inhibit macrophage phagocytosis

Tuberculosis is a major public health concern worldwide, and it is a serious threat to human health for a long period. Macrophage phagocytosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) is a crucial process for granuloma formation, which shelters the bacteria and gives them an opportunity for re-activation and spread. Herein, we report an intelligent anti-microbial peptide that can recognize and trap the M. tuberculosis, inhibiting the macrophage phagocytosis process. The peptide (Bis-Pyrene-KLVFF-WHSGTPH, in abbreviation as BFH) first self-assembles into nanoparticles, and then forms nanofibers upon recognizing and binding M. tuberculosis. Subsequently, BFH traps M. tuberculosis by the in situ formed nanofibrous networks and the trapped M. tuberculosis are unable to invade host cells (macrophages). The intelligent anti-microbial peptide can significantly inhibit the phagocytosis of M. tuberculosis by macrophages, thereby providing a favorable theoretical basis for inhibiting the formation of tuberculosis granulomas.

Self-assembling and cellular distribution of a series of transformable peptides

Transformable peptides (TPs) are biomedical materials with unique structures and diverse functionalities that have drawn great interest in material science and nanomedicine. Here, we design a series of TPs with...

Mitochondria-Targeted Self-Assembly of Peptide-Based Nanomaterials

Mitochondria are well known to serve as the powerhouse for cells and also the initiator for some vital signaling pathways. A variety of diseases are discovered to be associated with the abnormalities of mitochondria, including cancers. Thus, targeting mitochondria and their metabolisms are recognized to be promising for cancer therapy. In recent years, great efforts have been devoted to developing mitochondria-targeted pharmaceuticals, including small molecular drugs, peptides, proteins, and genes, with several molecular drugs and peptides enrolled in clinical trials. Along with the advances of nanotechnology, self-assembled peptide-nanomaterials that integrate the biomarker-targeting, stimuli-response, self-assembly, and therapeutic effect, have been attracted increasing interest in the fields of biotechnology and nanomedicine. Particularly, in situ mitochondria-targeted self-assembling peptides that can assemble on the surface or inside mitochondria have opened another dimension for the mitochondria-targeted cancer therapy. Here, we highlight the recent progress of mitochondria-targeted peptide-nanomaterials, especially those in situ self-assembly systems in mitochondria, and their applications in cancer treatments.

Factors Affecting Secondary and Supramolecular Structures of Self-Assembling Peptide Nanocarriers

Self-assembling peptides are a popular vector for therapeutic cargo delivery due to their versatility, tunability, and biocompatibility. Accurately predicting secondary and supramolecular structures of self-assembling peptides is essential for de novo peptide design. However, computational modeling of such assemblies is not yet able to accurately predict structure formation for many peptide sequences. This review identifies patterns in literature between secondary and supramolecular structures, primary sequences, and applications to provide a guide for informed peptide design. An overview of peptide structures, their applications as nanocarriers, and analytical methods for characterizing secondary and supramolecular structure is examined. A top-down approach is then used to identify trends between peptide sequence and assembly structure from the current literature, including an analysis of the drivers at work, such as local and nonlocal sequence effects and solution conditions.