Protein-, (Poly)peptide-, and Amino Acid-Based Nanostructures Prepared via Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly

Abstract

Proteins and peptides, built from precisely defined amino acid sequences, are an important class of biomolecules that play a vital role in most biological functions. Preparation of nanostructures through functionalization of natural, hydrophilic proteins/peptides with synthetic polymers or upon self-assembly of all-synthetic amphiphilic copolypept(o)ides and amino acid-containing polymers enables access to novel protein-mimicking biomaterials with superior physicochemical properties and immense biorelevant scope. In recent years, polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) has been established as an efficient and versatile alternative method to existing self-assembly procedures for the reproducible development of block copolymer nano-objects in situ at high concentrations and, thus, provides an ideal platform for engineering protein-inspired nanomaterials. In this review article, the different strategies employed for direct construction of protein-, (poly)peptide-, and amino acid-based nanostructures via PISA are described with particular focus on the characteristics of the developed block copolymer assemblies, as well as their utilization in various pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13162603
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Aston Institute of Materials Research (AIMR)
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Aston Polymer Research Group
Additional Information: Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Funding: M.J.D. wishes to thank the EPSRC for providing a DTP studentship for G.L.M. (EPSRC DTP 2020–2021, Aston University, Grant Ref: EP/T518128/1).
Uncontrolled Keywords: Biomaterials,Block copolymers,Nanostructures,Polymerization-induced selfassembly,Polypeptides,Proteins,Protein–polymer conjugates,α-amino acids,Chemistry(all),Polymers and Plastics
Publication ISSN: 2073-4360
Last Modified: 05 Mar 2024 08:14
Date Deposited: 06 Aug 2021 09:53
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://www.mdp ... 4360/13/16/2603 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Review article
Published Date: 2021-08-05
Accepted Date: 2021-08-01
Authors: Varlas, Spyridon
Maitland, Georgia
Derry, Matthew (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-5010-6725)

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