Drug conjugation to cyclic peptide-polymer self-assembling nanotubes.

We show for the first time how polymeric nanotubes (NTs) based on self-assembled conjugates of polymers and cyclic peptides can be used as an efficient drug carrier. RAPTA-C, a ruthenium-based anticancer drug, was conjugated to a statistical co-polymer based on poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) (pHEA) and poly(2-chloroethyl methacrylate) (pCEMA), which formed the shell of the NTs. Self-assembly into nanotubes (length 200-500 nm) led to structures exhibiting high activity against cancer cells.