PEG-peptide conjugate containing cathepsin B degradation unit as a doxorubicin carrier system

A drug delivery system (DDS) containing a cathepsin B degradable sequence and pH-responsive histidines was prepared by methoxypolyethylene glycol and peptide conjugation. Doxorubicin was attached to the carrier system using amide linkage to give the final form of the DDS, denoted as mPEG-AT3-DOX. mPEG-AT3-DOX exhibited a bimodal size distribution at about 15 and 30 nm independent of pH, whereas the size of the control DDS containing no peptide sequence, mPEG-DOX, was measured as ∼ 15–20 nm. At the end of 72 h, % doxorubicin release from both of the DDSs was observed to be below 8.5 ± 3% in the absence of cathepsin B, and it increased to 17 ± 2% in the presence of cathepsin B for mPEG-AT3-DOX.