(232) pH-Responsive Peptides for Enhanced Chemotherapy and Anti-tumor Immunity

Introduction: This project aims to leverage the acidic pH (6.3–6.9) of the tumor microenvironment (TME), driven by elevated glycolytic activity in malignant cells[1], to target cancer cells with peptide-drug conjugates. These peptides selectively anchor to cell membranes in low-pH conditions via alpha-helical conformations. We hypothesized this could be exploited to enable dual action: releasing a chemotherapeutic drug inside cancer cells to induce cytotoxicity while retaining an extracellular adjuvant to boost anti-tumor immunity. Controlled release is achieved using mesoporous silica nanorods (Fig. 1A).