Delivery of rapamycin by biomimetic peptide nanoparticles targeting oxidized low-density lipoprotein in atherosclerotic plaques†

Drug delivery systems based on biomimetic peptide nanoparticles are steadily gaining prominence in the treatment of diverse medical conditions. This study focused on the development of peptides that depend on ligand–receptor interactions to load rapamycin (RAPA). Furthermore, a multifunctional peptide was engineered to target oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) within atherosclerotic plaques, facilitating the localized delivery of RAPA. The interactions between peptides and RAPA/oxLDL were analyzed by simulations and experimental approaches. Results show that the main amino acid residues on the mammalian target of rapamycin that bind to RAPA are constructed as peptides (P1 and P2), which have specific interactions with RAPA and can effectively improve the loading efficiency of RAPA. The encapsulation and drug loading efficiencies of P1/P2 were 68.0/47.9% and 48.3/36.5%, respectively. In addition, the interaction force of the multifunctional peptide (P3) and oxLDL surpassed that of their interaction with human umbilical vein endothelial cells by a factor of 3.6, conclusively establishing the specific targeting of oxLDL by these nanoparticles. The encapsulation and drug loading efficiencies of P3 for RAPA were determined to be 60.2% and 41.5%. P3 can effectively load RAPA and target oxLDL within the plaque, suggesting that P3 has potential as a therapeutic agent for atherosclerotic disease.