Protein-mimetic peptide nanofibers: Motif design, self-assembly synthesis, and sequence-specific biomedical applications (2023)

The rapid diminution of fossil fuel stocks and ever-growing energy demand promotes the researchers for the development of new functional materials to solve future energy demand. Thus, it remains a challenge to functionalize a material for achieving improved energy storage activity. In this review article, we demonstrate various synthesis methods including hydrothermal and/or solvothermal, sol-gel, spray, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and self-assembly, etc. to functionalize the surface chemistry of graphene assisted vanadium based nanocomposites and their enhanced supercapacitor applications. Further, we briefly discussed the use of graphene-assisted vanadium-based nanocomposite electrodes in symmetric, asymmetric, and all solid-state supercapacitor devices. In addition, we summarized the recent trends, and future aspects of graphene-assisted vanadium-based nanocomposite electrodes for energy storage applications. This review article would support researchers in a wide range of disciplines to procure concise and systematic information for the synthesis methods, and supercapacitor applications of graphene-assisted vanadium-based nanocomposites.

Osteoregeneration and bacterial infection remains a major challenge in current clinical practice despite, many advanced strategies significantly developed so far. The combination of bioactive molecules and nano topology design can favour osteoinducivity that holds a greater potential as a bone substitute and minimize implant failure due to burst antibacterial effect. Here, we have reported a novel design of sandwich-like layered silver doped mesoporous silica nanofibers stuffed with an antibiotic drug combined with silk fibroin to boost the synergistic effect. We have investigated the physiochemical property of CEM incorporated sandwiched scaffolds by in vitro biomineralization, tensile strength, antibacterial efficacy against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacterial strains, in vitro degradation, osteogenic effects (MTT assay using MG63cell line and ARS staining). In conclusion, the faster degradation of monolayered nanofibrous scaffold by incorporating the sandwich technique was minimized. The combination of CEM/SF embedded [emailprotected] silica sandwich layered nanofibers showed a synergistic antibacterial effect due to the sustained release of drug from the middle layer with no burst release. The development of sandwich technique for the nanofibrous scaffolds could be a viable candidate for bone regeneration and defect repair.

Nanofibers have become significant in almost many industries due to their extraordinary engineering properties, particularly in the packaging, purification, textile, pharmaceutical, and biomedical sectors. Nano-scale fibres, also known as nanofibers, are manufactured from a variety of polymers, depending on their intended function. Most of these nanofibers were discovered to be biodegradable and biocompatible, and have the capacity to construct a highly porous structure with superior properties, making them suitable for wide array of applications, including packaging, drug delivery, medical implants such as organ and tissue grafts, wound repair, and dressing materials in the pharmaceutical industry, and as a filter or adsorbent in water treatment. It is the primary objective of this research to provide a comprehensive knowledge of nanofiber synthesis techniques, morphological, thermal, and mechanical characterizations of nanofibers, as well as their applications in industries and disciplines. This study as well includes a short glimpse of recent works on cellulose nanofibers and the current advancements of nanofibers for antimicrobial applications.

The digitalization of human life, as a result of the rapid development of telecommunication systems, has skyrocketed electromagnetic (EM) pollution with a deteriorating effect on the function of electronic devices and the health of living creatures. Accordingly, long-term exposure to EM waves disturbs the body’s metabolism through irreversible changes, leading to serious cell damage or even cancer. Consequently, protecting vulnerable groups from hazardous EM sources has become an essential fundamental matter. This comprehensive review investigated the interactive mechanism of EM waves with biological systems and proposed reliable approaches for safeguarding vulnerable biological systems using various nanostructural designs. Fibrous materials and their various configurations are also introduced as versatile wearable safeguarding shields to protect vulnerable entities from incident EM waves. Furthermore, the fibrous materials are presented as promising candidates for shielding EM waves by absorption mechanisms, thereby mitigating the undesirable secondary reflections, a common shortfall for most EM wave shields.

The molecule-like electronic structure endows gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) a most intriguing property, fluorescence, thereby AuNCs offer a great potential for biomedical applications. Recent efforts to improve the fluorescence of AuNCs mainly focus on tailoring size, structure and chemical environments. Herein, with the help of molecular dynamics simulation, we designed tyrosine-containing peptide motifs as the reducing agents, protecting ligands to synthesis P (peptide)-AuNCs in one-step reaction, which was developed to real-time monitor the fluorescence evolution of P-AuNCs. P-AuNCs with a quantum yield of ∼ 18% were synthesized and further demonstrated for multiple biomedical applications, such as sensing of temperature (10–55℃) and metal ions (with a limit of detection of 5nM for Hg²⁺), as well as cell labeling and imaging. With the excellent biocompatibility, wide spectral range and potential capacity for bio-recognition, this study provides a useful one-step synthesis strategy for screening out peptide motifs to real-time modulate the optical properties of peptide-containing hybrid nanomaterials.

Biomaterials, Volume 149, 2017, pp. 1-11

Active immunotherapies raising antibody responses against autologous targets are receiving increasing interest as alternatives to the administration of manufactured antibodies. The challenge in such an approach is generating protective and adjustable levels of therapeutic antibodies while at the same time avoiding strong T cell responses that could lead to autoimmune reactions. Here we demonstrate the design of an active immunotherapy against TNF-mediated inflammation using short synthetic peptides that assemble into supramolecular peptide nanofibers. Immunization with these materials, without additional adjuvants, was able to break B cell tolerance and raise protective antibody responses against autologous TNF in mice. The strength of the anti-TNF antibody response could be tuned by adjusting the epitope content in the nanofibers, and the T-cell response was focused on exogenous and non-autoreactive T-cell epitopes. Immunization with unadjuvanted peptide nanofibers was therapeutic in a lethal model of acute inflammation induced by intraperitoneally delivered lipopolysaccharide, whereas formulations adjuvanted with CpG showed comparatively poorer protection that correlated with a more Th1-polarized response. Additionally, immunization with peptide nanofibers did not diminish the ability of mice to clear infections of Listeria monocytogenes. Collectively this work suggests that synthetic self-assembled peptides can be attractive platforms for active immunotherapies against autologous targets.

Acta Biomaterialia, Volume 22, 2015, pp. 8-18

Pancreatic islet transplantation is a promising treatment for type 1 diabetes. However, viability and functionality of the islets after transplantation are limited due to loss of integrity and destruction of blood vessel networks. Thus, it is important to provide a proper mechanically and biologically supportive environment for enhancing both in vitro islet culture and transplantation efficiency. Here, we demonstrate that heparin mimetic peptide amphiphile (HM-PA) nanofibrous network is a promising platform for these purposes. The islets cultured with peptide nanofiber gel containing growth factors exhibited a similar glucose stimulation index as that of the freshly isolated islets even after 7days. After transplantation of islets to STZ-induced diabetic rats, 28day-long monitoring displayed that islets that were transplanted in HM-PA nanofiber gels maintained better blood glucose levels at normal levels compared to the only islet transplantation group. In addition, intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test revealed that animals that were transplanted with islets within peptide gels showed a similar pattern with the healthy control group. Histological assessment showed that islets transplanted within peptide nanofiber gels demonstrated better islet integrity due to increased blood vessel density. This work demonstrates that using the HM-PA nanofiber gel platform enhances the islets function and islet transplantation efficiency both in vitro and in vivo.

Coordination Chemistry Reviews, Volume 397, 2019, pp. 14-27

Peptide-coordination self-assembly demonstrates great potential in the precise design of next-generation theranostic nanodrugs. It has the advantages of high biosafety, versatile system design, easy control over the self-assembled structures, facile incorporation of various functionalities, and greatly enhanced stability of the complex materials as well as their stimuli-responsive assembly and disassembly. All of these merits promote the construction of targeted theranostic systems with highly integrated diagnostic and therapeutic functionalities. This review seeks to provide an up-to-date conclusive observation about the field of peptide-coordination self-assembly for theranostic applications to guide related research. It covers the general principles of peptide-coordination self-assembly for producing structures with controlled morphologies and properties, the strategies for constructing peptide/metal hybrid materials for diagnostic and therapeutic aims, and, more specifically, the strategies and design rules for integrating various functionalities into a single platform for theranostics.

Optik, Volume 208, 2020, Article 164081

Electrospun nanofiber mats show a very high surface-to-volume ratio as well as good mechanical properties and are thus typically used as filters or wound dressings, for drug delivery or as catalysts. Their optical properties, however, are only scarcely investigated. Due to the fine fibers with typical diameters of a few hundred nanometers, they tend to scattering visible light strongly. When wetted, however, they can become nearly invisible due to index-matching with the solvent and benefiting from the low thickness of the mats of usually only few microns. Here we report on polyacrylonitrile nanofiber mats, electrospun solely or blended with biopolymers, ceramics and other materials to modify their morphological and optical properties. Spectroscopic investigations of wetted nanofiber mats revealed different drying processes for different nanofiber morphologies and materials. On the other hand, some nanofiber mats were dissolved and the nano-mat forming process was evaluated spectroscopically, underlining the significant difference in the optical properties of nanofiber mats and nano-membranes of identical areal weights. With that we show the capability of the nanofiber mats for reversible transmission as well as permanent transmission tuning.

Carbon, Volume 89, 2015, pp. 20-30

In this study, self-assembled peptide nanofibers (PNFs) were firstly created with a specially designed peptide molecule. Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet, as a two-dimensional scaffold, was then modified with the prepared PNFs to fabricate a new type of GO–PNF nanohybrid, which was further utilized as a template for biomimetic mineralization. The produced GO–PNF nanohybrid and its minerals were characterized by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The obtained results indicate that the created GO–PNF nanohybrid facilitates the nucleation and growth of hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals. The created PNFs promote the formation of HA nanocrystals along the axis of PNFs within short-term incubation and the GO nanosheet mediates the formation of HA microsphere after long-term mineralization. The effects of the produced GO–PNF nanohybrid and biomimetic minerals (GO–PNF–HA) on the adhesion and proliferation of L-929 cells and MC3T3-E1 cells were further investigated. The cell culture result indicates that the produced GO–PNF–HA minerals have good biocompatibility and can enhance the proliferation ability of the studied cells. We believe this novel biocompatible nanohybrid will show great potentials in tissue engineering.

Trends in Chemistry, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2020, pp. 71-83

Supramolecular peptide assemblies not only provide molecular insight into understanding and mimicking the fundamental features of the self-assembly of biological molecules, but also promise many important applications. This review discusses representative examples of supramolecular assemblies of peptides or peptide derivatives and highlights the emerging applications of these materials, including tissue engineering, molecular imaging, and cancer therapeutics. These results underscore the tremendous promise of supramolecular peptide assemblies as an emerging interdisciplinary research branch at the interface of chemistry and biological science.