School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, People's Republic of China.
College of Information Science and Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang 110870, People's Republic of China.
Biomed Mater. 2023 Jun 22;18(4). doi: 10.1088/1748-605X/acddc2.
Self-assembling peptides, offering favorable biocompatibility, high stability, and easy incorporation of various functionalities, have demonstrated enormous potential for the precise design of next-generation nanodrugs for non-invasive tumor therapy. Peptide-based supramolecular photodynamic therapy (PDT) has shown great promise as an emerging modality for cancer treatment, achieving substantially-enhanced photosensitizer delivery selectivity and treatment efficacy, based on peptide biological activity and self-assembly potential. Although considerable research has been conducted toward fabricating self-assembling peptide-based smart nanodrugs for PDT, few studies have investigated cellular biophysical responses as indicators of tumor function and metabolic state. Here, via atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based morphological and mechanical measurements, including optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, we observed, for the first time, variation in membrane stiffness of human liver (HepG2) cancer cells treated with self-assembling peptides serving as a PDT nanodrug. This biophysical information will help to establish a comprehensive understanding of the anticancer effect of peptide-based smart nanodrugs, and highlight the exceptional ability of AFM in determining cell-surface properties.
自组装肽具有良好的生物相容性、高稳定性和易于引入各种功能的特点，为精确设计用于非侵入性肿瘤治疗的下一代纳米药物提供了巨大的潜力。基于肽的超分子光动力疗法 (PDT) 作为一种新兴的癌症治疗方法显示出巨大的潜力，它基于肽的生物活性和自组装潜力，实现了显著增强的光敏剂输送选择性和治疗效果。尽管已经进行了大量研究来制备用于 PDT 的自组装肽基智能纳米药物，但很少有研究探讨细胞生物物理反应作为肿瘤功能和代谢状态的指标。在这里，我们首次通过原子力显微镜 (AFM) 基于形态和机械测量，包括光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜，观察到人肝癌 (HepG2) 癌细胞在用作 PDT 纳米药物的自组装肽处理后的膜硬度变化。这些生物物理信息将有助于全面了解基于肽的智能纳米药物的抗癌效果，并突出 AFM 在确定细胞表面特性方面的卓越能力。
