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Temperature triggered self-assembly of polypeptides into multivalent spherical micelles.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Dreher, MR; Simnick, AJ; Fischer, K; Smith, RJ; Patel, A; Schmidt, M; Chilkoti, A
Published in: Journal of the American Chemical Society
January 2008

We report herein thermally responsive elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) in a linear AB diblock architecture with an N-terminal peptide ligand that self-assemble into spherical micelles when heated slightly above body temperature. A series of 10 ELP block copolymers (ELP(BC)'s ) with different molecular weights and hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic block ratios were genetically synthesized by recursive directional ligation. The self-assembly of these polymers from unimers into micelles was investigated by light scattering, fluorescence spectroscopy, and cryo-TEM. These ELP(BC)'s undergo two phase transitions as a function of solution temperature: a unimer-to-spherical micelle transition at an intermediate temperature and a micelle-to-bulk aggregate transition at a higher temperature when the hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic block ratio is between 1:2 and 2:1. The critical micelle temperature is controlled by the length of the hydrophobic block, and the size of the micelle is controlled by both the total ELP(BC) length and hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic block ratio. These polypeptide micelles display a critical micelle concentration in the range 4-8 microM demonstrating the high stability of these structures. These studies have also identified a subset of ELP(BC)'s bearing terminal peptide ligands that are capable of forming multivalent spherical micelles that present multiple copies of the ligand on their corona in the clinically relevant temperature range 37-42 degrees C and target cancer cells. These ELP(BC)'s may be useful for drug targeting by thermally triggered multivalency. More broadly, the design rules uncovered by this study should be applicable to the design of other thermally reversible nanoparticles for diverse applications in medicine and biology.

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Published In

Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI

EISSN

1520-5126

ISSN

0002-7863

Publication Date

January 2008

Volume

130

Issue

2

Start / End Page

687 / 694

Related Subject Headings

  • Temperature
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence
  • Scattering, Radiation
  • Peptides
  • Micelles
  • Light
  • Hot Temperature
  • General Chemistry
  • Elastin
  • Cryoelectron Microscopy
 

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Dreher, M. R., Simnick, A. J., Fischer, K., Smith, R. J., Patel, A., Schmidt, M., & Chilkoti, A. (2008). Temperature triggered self-assembly of polypeptides into multivalent spherical micelles. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 130(2), 687–694. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja0764862
Dreher, Matthew R., Andrew J. Simnick, Karl Fischer, Richard J. Smith, Anand Patel, Manfred Schmidt, and Ashutosh Chilkoti. “Temperature triggered self-assembly of polypeptides into multivalent spherical micelles.Journal of the American Chemical Society 130, no. 2 (January 2008): 687–94. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja0764862.
Dreher MR, Simnick AJ, Fischer K, Smith RJ, Patel A, Schmidt M, et al. Temperature triggered self-assembly of polypeptides into multivalent spherical micelles. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2008 Jan;130(2):687–94.
Dreher, Matthew R., et al. “Temperature triggered self-assembly of polypeptides into multivalent spherical micelles.Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 130, no. 2, Jan. 2008, pp. 687–94. Epmc, doi:10.1021/ja0764862.
Dreher MR, Simnick AJ, Fischer K, Smith RJ, Patel A, Schmidt M, Chilkoti A. Temperature triggered self-assembly of polypeptides into multivalent spherical micelles. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2008 Jan;130(2):687–694.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI

EISSN

1520-5126

ISSN

0002-7863

Publication Date

January 2008

Volume

130

Issue

2

Start / End Page

687 / 694

Related Subject Headings

  • Temperature
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence
  • Scattering, Radiation
  • Peptides
  • Micelles
  • Light
  • Hot Temperature
  • General Chemistry
  • Elastin
  • Cryoelectron Microscopy