Elastin-like polypeptide-based micelles as a promising platform in nanomedicine.

Jolinde van Strien, Oscar Escalona-Rayo, Wim Jiskoot, Bram Slütter, Alexander Kros

Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society 2023 Jan

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New and improved nanomaterials are constantly being developed for biomedical purposes. Nanomaterials based on elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) have increasingly shown potential over the past two decades. These polymers are artificial proteins of which the design is based on human tropoelastin. Due to this similarity, ELP-based nanomaterials are biodegradable and therefore well suited to drug delivery. The assembly of ELP molecules into nanoparticles spontaneously occurs at temperatures above a transition temperature (Tt). The ELP sequence influences both the Tt and the physicochemical properties of the assembled nanomaterial. Nanoparticles with desired properties can hence be designed by choosing the appropriate sequence. A promising class of ELP nanoparticles are micelles assembled from amphiphilic ELP diblock copolymers. Such micelles are generally uniform and well defined. Furthermore, site-specific attachment of cargo to the hydrophobic block results in micelles with the cargo shielded inside their core, while conjugation to the hydrophilic block causes the cargo to reside in the corona where it is available for interactions. Such control over particle design is one of the main contributing factors for the potential of ELP-based micelles as a drug delivery system. Additionally, the micelles are easily loaded with protein or peptide-based cargo by expressing it as a fusion protein. Small molecule drugs and other cargo types can be either covalently conjugated to ELP domains or physically entrapped inside the micelle core. This review aims to give an overview of ELP-based micelles and their applications in nanomedicine. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Jolinde van Strien, Oscar Escalona-Rayo, Wim Jiskoot, Bram Slütter, Alexander Kros. Elastin-like polypeptide-based micelles as a promising platform in nanomedicine. Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society. 2023 Jan;353:713-726