In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the engineering of nanoparticles for such biomedical applications as drug delivery and bioimaging1,2,3,4. The multifunctionality of nanoparticle-based systems often necessitates incorporating multiple components within one formulation. The building blocks that are based on lipids or polymers often differ in terms of their physicochemical properties as well as their biocompatibility and biodegradability, which ultimately might affect the function of the nanostructure1,5,6. Biologically derived materials, such as proteins and peptides, have long been recognized as promising components of multifunctional nanostructures due to their sequence flexibility7,8. Peptides self-assemble into highly ordered supramolecular architectures forming helical ribbons9,10, fibrous scaffolds11,12, and many more, thus paving the way to building biomolecule-based hybrid nanostructures using a bottom-up approach13.
Peptides have been explored for applications in medicine and biotechnology, especially for anticancer therapy14 and cardiovascular diseases15 as well as for antibiotic development16,17, metabolic disorders18, and infections19. There are over a hundred of small-peptide therapeutics undergoing clinical trials20. Peptides are easy to modify and fast to synthesize at low cost. In addition, they are biodegradable, which greatly facilitates their biological and pharmaceutical applications21,22. The use of peptides as structural components includes the engineering of responsive, peptide-based nanoparticles and hydrogel depots for controlled release23,24,25,26,27, peptide-based biosensors28,29,30,31, or bio-electronic devices32,33,34. Importantly, even short peptides with two or three amino-acid residues that include phenylalanine were found to guide the self-assembly processes35,36,37 and create stabilized emulsions38.
Platinum-based drugs, owing to their high efficacy, are used in many cancer treatment regimens, both alone and in combination with other agents39,40. Platinum compounds induce DNA damage by forming monoadducts and intrastrand or interstrand cross-links. The Pt-DNA lesions are recognized by the cellular machinery and, if not repaired, lead to cellular apoptosis. The most important mechanism, by which Pt(II) contributes to cancer cell death, is the inhibition of DNA transcription41,42. However, the benefits of platinum therapy are diminished by systemic toxicity of Pt(II) that triggers severe side effects. This leads to lower clinical dosing of Pt(II)43, which often results in sub-therapeutic concentrations of platinum reaching the DNA. As a consequence, the DNA repair that follows contributes to cancer cell survival and acquiring Pt(II) resistance. The platinum chemo-resistance is a major problem in anticancer therapy and the main cause of treatment failure44,45.
We have developed a stable nanosystem that encapsulates the Pt(II) agent in order to provide a shielding effect in systemic circulation and to diminish the Pt(II)-induced side effects. The system is based on an oleic acids-Pt(II) core stabilized with a KYF tripeptide to form a nanoemulsion (KYF-Pt-NE)46. The building blocks of KYF-Pt-NE, the amino acids of the tripeptide as well as the oleic acid, have the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status with Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The KYF-Pt-NE is prepared by using a nanoprecipitation method47. In short, the oleic acids-Pt(II) conjugate is dissolved in an organic solvent and then added dropwise to an aqueous KYF solution (Figure 1) at 37 °C. The solution is stirred for several hours to allow self-assembly of the KYF-Pt-NE. The nanoemulsion is concentrated in 10 kDa centrifugal concentrators and washed three times with water. The chemical modification of the KYF with a fluorophore allows the synthesis of fluorescent FITC-KYF-Pt-NE suitable for biomedical imaging.