Self-assembling peptide nanofibers stay longer in the lung and improve anti-fibrotic effects in a mouse model
- A therapeutic peptide was fused with a self-assembly motif to give CQ7, which forms supramolecular nanofibers under physiological conditions, both inside and outside cells.
- The fibrous form improves lung retention and delivery, and showed anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory activity in a mouse fibrosis model dosed by injection or inhalation.
- Transcriptomics suggested the mechanism involves mitochondrial function, lower oxidative stress and modulated apoptosis.
💡 Points Based on the abstract
Is this a better peptide or just a better formulation? The fibre doesn't change the pharmacophore; it changes exposure, and in the lung that's the real liability for a peptide. Appending an assembly motif is a cheap fix for clearance, and it's tractable. But I'd want the monomer-versus-fibre comparison at matched dose before crediting the mitochondrial story, and a look at how reproducible the assembly is batch to batch.