Peptide‐Based Supramolecular Nanodrugs as a New Generation of Therapeutic Toolboxes against Cancer

Abstract

Peptides are an important class of biomaterials that are widely used in the biomedical field due to their biocompatibility, bioavailability, and structural diversity. They self-assemble into a variety of architectures by weak intermolecular interactions such as π-effects, van der Waals forces, ionic attraction, the hydrophobic effect, and hydrogen bonding, resulting in many advantages in cancer treatment. Self-assembling peptide nanostructures perform two functions: they act as nanocarriers to deliver drugs to tumor sites, and they regulate drug properties, for example, enhancing drug stability, improving the optical properties of photosensitizers, and increasing the immune response. This review focuses on peptide-based supramolecular nanodrugs or nanocarriers for different cancer treatment modalities, such as chemotherapy, phototherapy, and immunotherapy. In particular, peptides with special bioactive properties, such as tumor targeting, microenvironmental responsiveness, and antigenicity, will be highlighted for their utility in the effort to conquer cancer.

CURATE.AI: Optimizing Personalized Medicine with Artificial Intelligence

“…In the past 50 years, clinical practice has been going through a transition fueled by technological developments. Biomed ical engineering, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] material science, [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] and artificial intel ligence (AI) [19][20][21][22][23][24] have been transforming the entire medical landscape: diagnostics, [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] drug development, 24,[34][35][36] drug delivery, [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] and data analytics. [47][48][49]…”

Supramolecular cancer photoimmunotherapy based on precise peptide self-assembly design

“…Among them, peptide-based delivery systems have been attracting more attention owing to their intrinsic biocompatibility and biodegradability, structural stability, and tunable functionality. 24 Diverse peptide building blocks, including hydrophobic peptides, amphiphilic peptides, and aromatic peptides have been designed to construct functional drug delivery systems for the loading of hydrophobic photosensitizers. In some case, photosensitizers not only exist as loaded drugs, but also participate in peptide self-assembly through non-covalent interactions, forming a self-delivery system.…”

Engineering the Architecture of Elastin‐Like Polypeptides: From Unimers to Hierarchical Self‐Assembly

“…Nature has evolved an array of biological nanostructures through self‐assembly, including: i) higher‐order polypeptide structures (secondary, tertiary, quaternary); ii) the DNA double helix; iii) lipid bilayers; and iv) RNA‐ribosome complexes. Of these, polypeptide self‐assembly has gained the most momentum for creating nature‐imitating materials due to the stability and diversity of polypeptide structures, as well as their intrinsic biocompatibility, high yield, and applicability in the biomedical field . In particular, elastin‐like polypeptides (ELPs)—a class of self‐assembling peptides derived from the repeated amino acid sequence in the hydrophobic domain of human tropoelastin—have received significant attention …”