1. Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Peptides for Recognizing High Furin-Expressing Cancer Cells
- Author
-
Peng Wei, Chunyan Cao, Zhongkuan Liu, Tao Yi, Li Xiang, Lingyan Liu, Mengyin Xu, Yifeng Zhou, Ruohan Li, and Yaping Zhong
- Subjects
animal structures ,Fluorophore ,Materials science ,viruses ,Breast Neoplasms ,Peptide ,02 engineering and technology ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,Micelle ,Protein Structure, Secondary ,Mice ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Drug Delivery Systems ,Cell Line, Tumor ,Amphiphile ,Animals ,Humans ,General Materials Science ,Furin ,chemistry.chemical_classification ,biology ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Proprotein convertase ,Nanostructures ,Neoplasm Proteins ,0104 chemical sciences ,Cell biology ,RAW 264.7 Cells ,chemistry ,Tumor progression ,embryonic structures ,Cancer cell ,biology.protein ,Female ,Peptides ,0210 nano-technology - Abstract
Self-assembled nanostructures of amphiphilic peptides have a wide range of applications in bioimaging and delivery systems. In this study, we design and synthesize a biocompatible amphiphilic peptide (C-3) consisting of an RVRRFFF sequence and a nitrobenzoxadiazole fluorophore that can self-assemble into stable micelles for specifically detecting furin, a kind of proprotein convertase with promoting tumor progression. The self-assembly of C-3 with a β-sheet nanostructure is capable of a rapid and specific response to furin in only 5 min in aqueous solution because of the existence of the RVRR motif in the C-3 molecule. The C-3 nanostructures thus can selectively distinguish high furin-expressing cancer cells, like MDA-MB-231 cells, a kind of human breast cancer cells, from normal cells. Furthermore, the C-3 self-assembly can stay in living cells for a long time and are capable of durable detection of intracellular furin, being good for tracer analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first example of self-assembly of a soluble amphiphilic peptide that can selectively detect furin in high furin-expressing live cells.
- Published
- 2019