A special short peptide can regulate autophagy

It was learned from the University of science and technology of China that Wen Longping, a professor of the school of life sciences of the University, found that a short peptide can regulate the autophagy behavior of cells caused by rare earth nanomaterials, thus greatly reducing the toxic side effects of nanomaterials and improving the killing effect on tumor cells Related papers are published online in nature materials Autophagy is a key cell biological process in which lysosomes degrade damaged organelles, macromolecules and long-lived proteins to maintain cell homeostasis This process is closely related to the occurrence, development and treatment of many major diseases Autophagy has become another rapidly developing field of biological research after apoptosis In recent years, studies have shown that many nanoparticles inhaled or entered the body for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment can cause autophagy and cell death The autophagy caused by nanoparticles is a double-edged sword On the one hand, it can cause toxicity in normal cells, which should be avoided; on the other hand, it can help to treat diseases in specific cells, such as enhancing the effect of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy for cancer, and treating neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease Therefore, effective regulation of autophagy induced by nanoparticles will play an important role in promoting the in vivo application of nanomaterials and nanodevices Wenlongping's team used "phage display" technology to find a short peptide RE-1 It can combine with rare earth metal oxides and rare earth upconversion luminescent nanomaterials, and form stable peptide coating on its surface Mouse experiments showed that the peptide can reduce the autophagy level by inhibiting the interaction between nanoparticles and cells, so as to shield the cytotoxicity and tissue damage caused by autophagy and improve the biological safety of nanomaterials On the other hand, the peptide and RGD, which can recognize tumor, constitute a compound peptide, and then through the interaction with integrin outside tumor cells, improve the autophagy and killing effect of rare earth nano materials in tumor cells Industry experts said the discovery is expected to achieve the goal of shielding autophagy in normal cells and improving autophagy in tumor cells to enhance chemotherapy.