Recently, the research team led by Tu Jiaseng and Jiang Lei from the School of Pharmacy at our university has published a series of cutting-edge research findings on functional pharmaceutical materials in the prestigious journals Nature Communications and Advanced Materials.
Lipid-based microparticle formulations, with their excellent biocompatibility, flexibility in drug loading, and mature industrialization advantages, have become the most successful choice for clinical translation in high-end drug delivery systems. However, the inherent limitations of traditional lipid molecular structures, particularly the limited selectivity of hydrophilic groups, severely hinder the clinical translation of lipid-based formulations. Therefore, developing novel strategies for constructing lipid materials has become crucial in overcoming the functional limitations of lipid-based formulations and enhancing their therapeutic potential.
Addressing these issues, the Tu Jiaseng/Jiang Lei team has been dedicated to researching novel lipid materials known as dendritic lipopeptides, utilizing tree-shaped peptides with amino acids as the basic structural units as the hydrophilic groups of lipid materials. To address the issue of poor stability in peptide molecules, the team proposed a “dimeric peptide strategy,” which significantly enhances peptide stability, improves receptor affinity, and induces multivalent effects, thereby achieving efficient healing of metabolic wounds. The findings were published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications under the title “Dimeric Copper Peptide Incorporated Hydrogel for Promoting Diabetic Wound Healing.” The co-first authors of the paper are Cong Rui, a 2024 doctoral student; Deng Chengyu, a 2020 master's student; and Li Pengwei, a 2023 master's student. The corresponding authors are Professor Tu Jiaseng and Associate Professor Jiang Lei from the School of Pharmacy, and Professor Jiang Xiquan from Nanjing University. China Pharmaceutical University is the first corresponding institution.
Original link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61141-1
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Meanwhile, the team further designed and constructed a dendritic lipopeptide G2K based on lysine as the basic structural unit, which was used to develop a multivalent nucleic acid drug delivery platform. G2K protects nucleic acid drugs from nuclease degradation, significantly enhancing their accumulation at atherosclerotic plaque sites, improving target cell uptake efficiency, and regulating cholesterol metabolism, thereby effectively reducing aortic plaque burden. The findings were published in the prestigious journal Advanced Materials under the title “Lesional Macrophage-Targeted Nanomedicine Regulating Cholesterol Homeostasis for the Treatment of Atherosclerosis.” Liu Boyu, a 2022 master's student, and Lei Lei, a 2021 master's student, are the co-first authors of the paper. Professors Tu Jiaseng, Jiang Lei, and Su Zhigui from the School of Pharmacy are the corresponding authors, and China Pharmaceutical University is the first corresponding institution.
Original link: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202502581
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