Artificial Peptide‐Protein Necrosomes Promote Cell Death

Abstract

The presence of disordered region or large interacting surface within proteins significantly challenges the development of targeted drugs, commonly known as the “undruggable” issue. Here, we report a heterogeneous peptide‐protein assembling strategy to selectively phosphorylate proteins, thereby activating the necroptotic signaling pathway and promoting cell necroptosis. Inspired by the structures of natural necrosomes formed by receptor interacting protein kinases (RIPK) 1 and 3, the kinase‐biomimetic peptides are rationally designed by incorporating natural or D‐amino acids, or connecting D‐amino acids in a retro‐inverso (DRI) manner, leading to one RIPK3‐biomimetic peptide PR3 and three RIPK1‐biomimetic peptides. Individual peptides undergo self‐assembly into nanofibrils, whereas mixing RIPK1‐biomimetic peptides with PR3 accelerates and enhances assembly of PR3. In particular, RIPK1‐biomimetic peptide DRI‐PR1 exhibits reliable binding affinity with protein RIPK3, resulting in specific cytotoxicity to colon cancer cells that overexpress RIPK3. Mechanistic studies reveal the increased phosphorylation of RIPK3 induced by RIPK1‐biomimetic peptides, elucidating the activation of the necroptotic signaling pathway responsible for cell death without an obvious increase in secretion of inflammatory cytokines. Our findings highlight the potential of peptide‐protein hybrid aggregation as a promising approach to address the “undruggable” issue and provide alternative strategies for overcoming cancer resistance in the future.