Potent tumor targeting drug release system comprising MMP-2 specific peptide fragment with self-assembling characteristics

Abstract

Dan Hua,1 Weiling Kong,2 Xuemin Zheng,2 Zhixing Zhou,2 Bing Yu,2 Yazhou Li,2 Yuli Wang,2 Xue Yang,2 Changxiao Liu,2 Lida Tang,2 Ying Li,3 Min Gong21School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University, 2Tianjin Institute of Pharmaceutical Research, State Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery and Pharmacokinetics, 3Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, People’s Republic of ChinaAbstract: Self-assembling peptides are capable of forming a complex containing a cavity where cytotoxic agents can be wrapped in a self-assembling manner. These complexes are beneficial for improving the pharmacological properties and pharmacokinetics of cytotoxic agents, such as doxorubicin and paclitaxel. In the present study, this self-assembling feature was successfully integrated into a hexapeptide with matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 specific targeting activity, producing a supramolecule possessing controlled drug release characteristics. The MMP-2 specific substrate fragment, PVGLIG, makes this supramolecule disassociate in the presence of MMP-2, and this system is considered to be a powerful tool for the treatment of tumors with high expression of MMP-2 or tumor metastasis. Our findings show that this modified self-assembling peptide with the PVGLIG fragment was able to significantly enhance specificity against HT1080 cells, a tumor cell line with high expression of MMP-2. In addition, residence time of the complex in blood was prolonged since paclitaxel was wrapped into the supramolecule. Our results suggest that the modified MMP-2 specific substrate, SAMTA7, could act as a controlled and sustained drug carrier for treatment of tumors with high expression of MMP-2 and for tumor metastasis.Keywords: matrix metalloproteinase, self-assembly, drug targeting system, paclitaxel