MetallopeptiGELs: Injectable Short-Peptide Supramolecular Hydrogels Self-Assembled by Pd Nanosheets for Bioorthogonal Therapy
12 affiliations
- 1Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Crewe Road South, EH4 2XU Edinburgh, U.K.
- 2Nanoscopy-UGR Laboratory, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, E-18011 Granada, Spain
- 3Unidad de Excelencia Química Aplicada a Biomedicina y Medioambiente (UEQ), Universidad de Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spain
- 4Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragon (INMA), CSIC−University of Zaragoza, E-50009 Zaragoza, Spain
- 5Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Universidad de Zaragoza Campus Rio Ebro, E-50018 Zaragoza, Spain
- 6Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), E-28029 Madrid, Spain
- 7Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IIS) de Aragón, Avenida San Juan Bosco, 13, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
- 8POLYMAT and Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Paseo Manuel Lardizabal 3, E-20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
- 9Department of Applied Physics and Research Unit “Modeling Nature” (MNat), University of Granada, Avenida de Fuentenueva, E-18071 Granada, Spain
- 10Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Av. de Madrid, 15, E-18016 Granada, Spain
- 11Laboratorio de Microscopías Avanzadas, Universidad de Zaragoza, E-50018 Zaragoza, Spain
- 12Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Granada, Avenida de Fuentenueva, E-18071 Granada, Spain
Abstract
Controlling the delivery of chemotherapy to the tumor site is a long-standing goal of the medical field, as it could not only enhance the anticancer activity of the treatment but also reduce damage to the rest of the body. The emergence of bioorthogonal catalysis as a strategy capable of mediating continuous drug production in a nonenzymatic fashion has created the opportunity to develop so-called “bioorthogonal therapies,” which aim to generate the anticancer agents inside the tumors. Herein, we describe a novel class of supramolecular materials comprising ultrathin palladium nanosheets and fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-diphenylalanine that self-assemble in water to form injectable, self-healing, biocompatible catalytic gels that convert inactive prodyes and prodrugs into active small molecules. The relatively weak physicochemical cross-links generated by the hybrid metal-peptide fibers facilitate the flow of the gel under mild shear stress (shear-thinning), thereby enabling precise intratumoral injections in vivo and localized prodrug activation. The strategy was validated in an aggressive pancreatic cancer xenograft model in mice, setting out a new direction for the field of bioorthogonal therapies.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{contrerasmontoya2026metallopeptigels,
title = {{MetallopeptiGELs: Injectable Short-Peptide Supramolecular Hydrogels Self-Assembled by Pd Nanosheets for Bioorthogonal Therapy}},
author = {Rafael Contreras-Montoya and Maria Sancho-Albero and Catherine Adam and Federico Movilla and Mari C. Mañas-Torres and Modesto T. López-López and Angel Orte and Victor Sebastian and Luis Álvarez de Cienfuegos and Asier Unciti-Broceta},
journal = {Journal of the American Chemical Society},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1021/jacs.6c19546},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c19546},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - MetallopeptiGELs: Injectable Short-Peptide Supramolecular Hydrogels Self-Assembled by Pd Nanosheets for Bioorthogonal Therapy
AU - Rafael Contreras-Montoya
AU - Maria Sancho-Albero
AU - Catherine Adam
AU - Federico Movilla
AU - Mari C. Mañas-Torres
AU - Modesto T. López-López
AU - Angel Orte
AU - Victor Sebastian
AU - Luis Álvarez de Cienfuegos
AU - Asier Unciti-Broceta
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society
DO - 10.1021/jacs.6c19546
UR - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c19546
AB - Controlling the delivery of chemotherapy to the tumor site is a long-standing goal of the medical field, as it could not only enhance the anticancer activity of the treatment but also reduce damage to the rest of the body. The emergence of bioorthogonal catalysis as a strategy capable of mediating continuous drug production in a nonenzymatic fashion has created the opportunity to develop so-called “bioorthogonal therapies,” which aim to generate the anticancer agents inside the tumors. Herein, we describe a novel class of supramolecular materials comprising ultrathin palladium nanosheets and fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-diphenylalanine that self-assemble in water to form injectable, self-healing, biocompatible catalytic gels that convert inactive prodyes and prodrugs into active small molecules. The relatively weak physicochemical cross-links generated by the hybrid metal-peptide fibers facilitate the flow of the gel under mild shear stress (shear-thinning), thereby enabling precise intratumoral injections in vivo and localized prodrug activation. The strategy was validated in an aggressive pancreatic cancer xenograft model in mice, setting out a new direction for the field of bioorthogonal therapies.
SN - 0002-7863
SN - 1520-5126
ER -