Self-Assembling Peptide Amphiphiles as a Versatile Future Nanomedicine Platform

Abstract

This chapter discusses the self-assembly of peptide amphiphiles (PAs); applications of PAs in a variety of fields including drug delivery, regenerative medicine, and antibacterial agents; and the overall future of these self-assembling PAs in medicine. In the future, development of biomaterials based on self-assembled PA systems, more versatile biological signals and dynamic systems are to be explored, and together with the promising market potential of peptide therapeutics, PA systems could be the next generation of nanomedicine. Cationic antimicrobial peptides are short peptides carrying a 2–9 positive net charge, and can be functionalized on the self-assembling PAs, such that their antibacterial activity is enhanced as a result of increased interaction with bacterial membranes. The step-by-step conjugation of amino acids into polypeptide chains can be readily achieved by solid-phase peptide synthesis. Peptide sequences that represent bioactive signals can be displayed on the self-assembled structures and direct cells to exhibit specific biological functions.