Peptide News Digest

#Self-Assembling-Peptides

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Research · View digest

Beijing Team's Copper-Peptide Nanospheres Turn Ultrasound Into Tumor-Killing Oxygen Radicals and Carry a Protein Degrader in Mice

Beijing University of Chemical Technology researchers coordinated copper ions with the dipeptide diphenylalanine to build nanospheres that generate reactive oxygen species under ultrasound, then loaded them with a PROTAC that degrades the cancer-linked proteins BRD3 and BRD4, reporting in Small. The combination with ultrasound killed 91.3% of HeLa cervical cancer cells in culture and inhibited tumor growth by 92.6% in tumor-bearing mice; there is no human data.

Research · View digest

Sun Yat-sen University's Self-Assembling Peptide CQ7 Forms Nanofibers That Linger in the Lungs and Ease Fibrosis in Mice

Sun Yat-sen University researchers designed CQ7, a therapeutic peptide joined to a self-assembly motif so it forms nanofibers inside and outside cells, and reported in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry that the fibers stayed in mouse lungs longer and improved delivery. Given by injection into the abdomen or by inhalation, CQ7 reduced fibrosis and inflammation in a mouse model of pulmonary fibrosis, and gene-expression work suggested it acts through mitochondrial function and oxidative stress. No human testing has been reported.