Self-assembling peptide of D-amino acids boosts selectivity and antitumor efficacy of 10-hydroxycamptothecin

D-peptides, which consist of D-amino acids and can resist the hydrolysis catalyzed by endogenous peptidases, are one of the promising candidates for construction of peptide materials with enhanced biostability in vivo. In this paper, we report on a self-assembling supramolecular nanostructure of D-amino acid-based peptide Nap-G(D)F(D)F(D)YGRGD (D-fiber, (D)F meant D-phenylalanine, (D)Y meant D-tyrosine), which were used as carriers for 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT). Transmission electron microscopy observations demonstrated the filamentous morphology of the HCPT-loaded peptides (d-fiber-HCPT). The better selectivity and antitumor activity of D-fiber-HCPT than L-fiber-HCPT were found in the in vitro and in vivo antitumor studies. These results highlight that this model D-fiber system holds great promise as vehicles of hydrophobic drugs for cancer therapy.