Peptide Amphiphile Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

Chemotherapy is one common treatment of cancer; however, it has adverse effects due to the drugs acting on non-tumor cells. A tumor-targeting peptide amphiphile (PA) drug delivery system with pH sensitivity offers a potential solution for this problem. A peptide amphiphile is composed of a chain of polar amino acids, the basic unit of proteins, and a nonpolar hydrocarbon tail. Due to polar groups’ high affinity for water and nonpolar groups’ low affinity for water, the PAs form a spherical nanoparticle in aqueous environments, called a micelle, with polar groups facing out and nonpolar groups on the inside. This micelle can have a drug added to the inside of it, allowing it to deliver the drug while also keeping a layer of separation between the drug and nontarget cells. By also adding a specific peptide sequence, which is known to bind tumors, and a pH sensitive group, which would change in the more acidic environment of tumors, the off-target effects of chemotherapy can potentially be mitigated. To investigate this, we synthesized 10 PAs with two different pH sensitive groups and without the drug and targeting peptide sequence. We are currently working to test the cytotoxicity, meaning the cell killing abilities, of these peptide amphiphiles on tumor and non-tumor cell lines in both low pH (6.0) and physiological pH (7.4). Exploring the cytotoxicity of the PAs without the drug and targeting region will help to identify which PAs are safe enough to use in further development