Fig. 8: The impact of residue chirality in other mPEG-polypeptide-based hydrogels.

A The chemical structures of mPEG-poly(L/D-alanine) and mPEG-poly(L/D-valine) block copolymers (left) and the preparation of hydrogel vaccines (right). The peptide-based block copolymers included mPEG-poly(L-alanine), mPEG-poly(D-alanine), mPEG-poly(L-valine), and mPEG-poly(D-valine). B Representative images of different hydrogels at 0 °C or 37 °C. The experiments were repeated at least three times and representative data from one of the experiments are shown. C Sol-gel phase diagrams of different copolymer solutions, LA1: mPEG-poly(L-alanine) (DP = 23.6), LA2: mPEG-poly(L-alanine) (DP = 26.7), LA3: mPEG-poly(L-alanine) (DP = 28.0), DA1: mPEG-poly(D-alanine) (DP = 21.4), DA2: mPEG-poly(D-alanine) (DP = 25.5), DA3: mPEG-poly(D-alanine) (DP = 28.2), LV1: mPEG-poly(L-valine) (DP = 13.1), LV2: mPEG-poly(L-valine) (DP = 18.6), LV3: mPEG-poly(L-valine) (DP = 22.8), DV1: mPEG-poly(D-valine) (DP = 14.6), DV2: mPEG-poly(D-valine) (DP = 18.5), DV3: mPEG-poly(D-valine) (DP = 21.6); DP indicates the degree of polymerization of polypeptide block. CD spectra of mPEG-poly(L- or D-alanine) (D) and mPEG-poly(L- or D-valine) (E) in aqueous solution (0.2 mg mL⁻¹, 25 °C). The experiments were repeated two times and representative data from one of the experiments are shown. F Average tumor growth curves in the C57BL/6 mice with treatments of different OVA antigen-containing vaccine formulations, followed by subcutaneous inoculation of B16OVA melanoma cells at 10 days post-vaccination (n = 7 mice in each group). G Survival curves of mice during the prophylactic treatment (n = 7 mice in each group). Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was analyzed by one-way ANOVA using LSD posttest for five groups of data at the same time point and the P value marks the significance difference on Day 19 (F). Statistical significance was analyzed by a log-rank test (G). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.