CUHK found that special short peptide can reduce the side effects of cancer diagnosis and treatment

According to China University of science and technology, Professor Wen Longping's research team at the school of Life Sciences found that a short peptide can regulate autophagy caused by rare earth nanomaterials, thus greatly reducing the toxic side effects of nanomaterials and improving the killing effect on tumor cells Relevant papers have been published online recently in the internationally renowned academic journal Nature materials Autophagy is a key cell biological process in which lysosomes degrade damaged organelles, macromolecules and long-lived proteins to maintain cell homeostasis, which is closely related to the occurrence, development and treatment of many major diseases In recent years, studies have shown that many nanoparticles inhaled into the body for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment can cause autophagy and promote cell death The autophagy caused by nanoparticles is a double-edged sword On the one hand, it will cause toxicity in normal cells, which needs to be avoided; on the other hand, it can be used to help disease treatment in specific cells, such as enhancing the effect of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy of cancer, and treating neurodegenerative diseases (such as Parkinson's disease) Effective regulation of autophagy induced by nanoparticles will greatly promote the in vivo application of nanomaterials and devices 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 The results of mouse experiments show 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 biosafety of nanomaterials On the other hand, the compound peptide composed of RGD, which can recognize tumor, can improve the autophagy and killing effect of rare earth nanomaterials in tumor cells by interacting with integrin outside tumor cells Therefore, the discovery is expected to achieve the goal of shielding autophagy in normal cells and improving autophagy in tumor cells to enhance chemotherapy (Yang Baoguo, reporter Wu Changfeng)