title: Peptide-based biomaterials for protease-enhanced drug delivery.
abstract: Controlled delivery of drugs in response to environments has the potential of targeting therapies and personalized treatments. Here, we described self-assembled peptide sequences that release therapeutic payloads upon specific interaction with disease-associated proteases. The core peptide sequence consists of a protease cleavable region flanked by two self-assembly motifs. In aqueous solution, the peptides self-assemble as a gel scaffold. With treatment of the model preparations with the appropriate protease, the matrix can be degraded in a controlled fashion, where the degradation rate is fine-tuned by varying the peptide compositions. Protease-mediated drug release was demonstrated by enzymatic treatment of a model therapeutic peptide incorporated into the optimized matrix. Our results suggest that this type of material may have far-reaching applications for functionally targeted drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: Center of Molecular Imaging Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA.
authors.forename: Benedict
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Law
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weissleder
authors.forename: Ching-Hsuan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tung
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000737:chemistry; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D005782:Gels; D010455:Peptides; D012996:Solutions; D014867:Water; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases