Protease-promoted drug delivery using peptide-functionalized gold nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles functionalized with amphiphilic peptides can encapsulate Bodipy and release it by diffusion. Proteolytic cleavage of the peptide monolayer triggers the rapid release of the encapsulated Bodipy from nanoparticles to mammalian cells, representing a prototypical model of protease-promoted drug delivery using gold nanoparticles.