Issue 9, 2020

Co-assembly of curcumin and a cystine bridged peptide to construct tumor-responsive nano-micelles for efficient chemotherapy

Abstract

The effective uptake and release of hydrophobic antitumor drugs in cancer cells is a practical challenge for tumor chemotherapy. Many methods were developed to conquer it through modifying drug molecules with hydrophilic groups, or fabricating nanodrugs based on hydrophilic materials. In recent years, peptides have attracted significant interest as part of a promising platform for fabricating nanodrugs due to their low cytotoxicity, favorable variability and self-assembly property. In this study, a cystine bridged peptide (CBP) was designed to co-assemble with a hydrophobic antitumor drug curcumin (CCM), to form a tumor-responsive nanodrug. The hydrophilicity of the peptide promotes the water-dispersity of nanodrugs, and the disulfide bond in cystine, which is cleavable by glutathione (GSH), was involved considering the overexpressed GSH in tumor microenvironments. In vitro and in vivo tests on cervical cancer cells revealed that the obtained nanodrug can rapidly dissociate at tumor sites and inhibit the tumor growth with limited side effects on healthy tissues.

Graphical abstract: Co-assembly of curcumin and a cystine bridged peptide to construct tumor-responsive nano-micelles for efficient chemotherapy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Nov 2019
Accepted
27 Jan 2020
First published
28 Jan 2020

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020,8, 1944-1951

Co-assembly of curcumin and a cystine bridged peptide to construct tumor-responsive nano-micelles for efficient chemotherapy

Y. Dai, Z. Jiang, J. Li, M. Wang, C. Liu, W. Qi, R. Su and Z. He, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020, 8, 1944 DOI: 10.1039/C9TB02625H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements