Patent ID: 9566349
Date: 2017-02-14
CPC Classifications: A61K,C07K

Claim:
1. A conjugate comprising one or more peptide ligands attached to a nanoparticle carrier, wherein: said nanoparticle carrier comprises a hydrophobic therapeutic agent admixed with a biocompatible block copolymer comprising polyethylene glycol (PEG) blocks and hydrophobic polymer blocks; said peptide ligand consists of an amino acid sequence wherein 1-2 pairs of amino acids are of an opposite charge, the members of said pair are separated by a spacer consisting of 1-12 amino acid residues comprising at least one hydrophobic amino acid, and the length of said amino acid sequence is greater than 5 and less than 20 amino acids; and wherein the first member of each of said pairs is selected from the group consisting of D and E, and the second member of opposite charge is independently selected from the group consisting of K, R, and H; each peptide ligand is attached to said nanoparticle through conjugation to a block copolymer of said nanoparticle by covalent bonding to a PEG block; and said conjugate has an average diameter between about 1 and about 700 nm; wherein said amino acid sequence is at least 75% identical to SEQ ID NO: 4 or at least 75% identical to SEQ ID NO: 5, and wherein further, non-identical amino acids are conservative substitutions of corresponding residues of SEQ ID NO: 4 or SEQ ID NO: 5; and wherein said amino acid sequence comprises a salt bridge which allows the peptide ligand to function as a carrier as a result of the amphiphilic conformation maintained by said salt bridge to allow the conjugate to be associated with, or incorporated into, lipid micelles.