Recently it is mainly focused on anti-tumor comprehensive treatments like finding target tumor cells or activating immune cells to inhibit tumor recurrence and metastasis. At present, chemotherapy and molecular-targeted drugs can inhibit tumor cell growth to a certain extent. However, multi-drug resistance and immune escape often make it difficult for new drugs to achieve expected effects. Peptide hydrogel nanoparticles is a new type of biological material with functional peptide chains as the core and self-assembling peptide (SAP) as the framework. It has a variety of significant biological functions, including effective local inflammation suppression and non-drug-resistant cell killing. Besides, it can induce immune activation more persistently in an adjuvant independent manner when compared with simple peptides. Thus, SAP nanomaterial has great potential in regulating cell physiological functions, drug delivery and sensitization, vaccine design and immunotherapy. Not only that, it is also a potential way to focus on some specific proteins and cells through peptides, which has already been examined in previous research. A full understanding of the function and application of SAP nanoparticles can provide a simple and practical strategy for the development of anti-tumor drugs and vaccine design, which contributes to the historical transition of peptide nanohydrogels from bench to bedside and brings as much survival benefits as possible to cancer patients.
Keywords: Peptide; anti-cancer; nanomaterial; self-assembly.