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Updated: Sep 28, 2025

Directed Assembly of Elastin-like Proteins into defined Supramolecular Structures and Cargo Encapsulation In Vitro
Published on: April 8, 2020
Enhancing the Cellular Uptake of Macromolecules via Enzyme-Instructed Self-Assembly
Enming Du1,2, Yunlan Tang1, Qizheng Zhang2
1Henan Eye Institute, Henan Eye Hospital, People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan University School of Medicine, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan 450003, China.
Abstract:
Poor solubility, low cellular uptake, and poor cell selectivity are the main obstacles hampering the therapeutic potential and clinic application of macromolecules. To overcome these limitations, here we propose a chemical modification strategy of macromolecules based on enzyme-instructed self-assembly (EISA). By using protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) and its metal complex Zn-PpIX as the modification objects, we demonstrated that the integration of enzymatic transformation and molecular self-assembly of macromolecules successfully improved the solubility of macromolecules, enhancing their intracellular uptake selectively against cancer cells. The proposed strategy is potentially applicable as a general tool for the development of macromolecule-based nanomedicine.
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