From phage display to nanoparticle delivery: functionalizing liposomes with multivalent peptides improves targeting to a cancer biomarker.

Phage display is commonly used to isolate peptides that bind to a desired cell type. While chemical synthesis of selected peptides often results in ligands with low affinity, a multivalent tetrameric presentation of the peptides dramatically improves affinity. One of the primary uses of these peptides is conjugation to nanoparticle-based therapeutics for specific delivery to target cell types. We set out to optimize the path from phage display peptide selection to peptide presentation on a nanoparticle surface for targeted delivery. Here, we examine the effects of peptide valency, density, and affinity on nanoparticle delivery and therapeutic efficacy, using the α(v)β(6)-specific H2009.1 peptide as a model phage-selected peptide and liposomal doxorubicin as a model therapeutic nanoparticle. Liposomes displaying the higher affinity multivalent H2009.1 tetrameric peptide demonstrate 5-10-fold higher drug delivery than liposomes displaying the lower affinity monomeric H2009.1 peptide, even when the same number of peptide subunits are displayed on the liposome. Importantly, a 6-fold greater toxicity is observed toward α(v)β(6)-expressing cells for liposomes displaying tetrameric verses monomeric H2009.1 peptides. Additionally, liposomal targeting and toxicity increase with increasing concentrations of H2009.1 tetrameric peptide on the liposome surface. Thus, both the multivalent peptide and the multivalent liposome scaffold work together to increase targeting to α(v)β(6)-expressing cells. This multilayered approach to developing high affinity targeted nanoparticles may improve the utility of moderate affinity peptides. As tetramerization is known to increase affinity for a variety of phage-selected peptides, it is anticipated that the tetrameric scaffold may act as a general method for taking peptides from phage display to nanoparticle display.