title: Peptide-drug conjugates as effective prodrug strategies for targeted delivery.
abstract: Peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs) represent an important class of therapeutic agents that combine one or more drug molecules with a short peptide through a biodegradable linker. This prodrug strategy uniquely and specifically exploits the biological activities and self-assembling potential of small-molecule peptides to improve the treatment efficacy of medicinal compounds. We review here the recent progress in the design and synthesis of peptide-drug conjugates in the context of targeted drug delivery and cancer chemotherapy. We analyze carefully the key design features in choosing the peptide sequence and linker chemistry for the drug of interest, as well as the strategies to optimize the conjugate design. We highlight the recent progress in the design and synthesis of self-assembling peptide-drug amphiphiles to construct supramolecular nanomedicine and nanofiber hydrogels for both systemic and topical delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for NanoBioTechnology, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for NanoBioTechnology, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Cheetham
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Garren
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Angacian
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for NanoBioTechnology, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for NanoBioTechnology, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Lisi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for NanoBioTechnology, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Oncology and Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Center for Nanomedicine, The Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 400 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.
authors.forename: Honggang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D010455:Peptides / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry*; D011355:Prodrugs / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D010455:Peptides; D011355:Prodrugs
keywords: Cancer; Conjugated chemistry; Drug amphiphiles; Drug delivery; Peptide–drug conjugates