A drug release switch based on protein-inhibitor supramolecular interaction

In this report, we describe a new system in which mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are gated with alpha-chymotrypsin A protein (CTRA) and the cargoes within the vehicles are released in the presence of phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF), a canonical inhibitor of CTRA. This cargo release switch is based on the specific interaction between CTRA and PMSF as well as structural changes upon their supramolecular complex formation. This host-guest gating system works smoothly both in vitro and within cells. This type of bio-switch may be extended to other drug carrier systems by using diverse protein-inhibitor pairs that exist in nature.