EGFR-targeted poly(ethylene glycol)-distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine micelle loaded with paclitaxel for laryngeal cancer: preparation, characterization and in vitro evaluation

Peptides as Therapeutic Agents: Challenges and Opportunities in the Green Transition Era

Peptides are at the cutting edge of contemporary research for new potent, selective, and safe therapeutical agents. Their rise has reshaped the pharmaceutical landscape, providing solutions to challenges that traditional small molecules often cannot address. A wide variety of natural and modified peptides have been obtained and studied, and many others are advancing in clinical trials, covering multiple therapeutic areas. As the demand for peptide-based therapies grows, so does the need for sustainable and environmentally friendly synthesis methods. Traditional peptide synthesis, while effective, often involves environmentally draining processes, generating significant waste and consuming vast resources. The integration of green chemistry offers sustainable alternatives, prioritizing eco-friendly processes, waste reduction, and energy conservation. This review delves into the transformative potential of applying green chemistry principles to peptide synthesis by discussing relevant examples of the application of such approaches to the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) with a peptide structure and how these efforts are critical for an effective green transition era in the pharmaceutical field.

Novel Peptide Therapeutic Approaches for Cancer Treatment

Peptides are increasingly being developed for use as therapeutics to treat many ailments, including cancer. Therapeutic peptides have the advantages of target specificity and low toxicity. The anticancer effects of a peptide can be the direct result of the peptide binding its intended target, or the peptide may be conjugated to a chemotherapy drug or radionuclide and used to target the agent to cancer cells. Peptides can be targeted to proteins on the cell surface, where the peptide–protein interaction can initiate internalization of the complex, or the peptide can be designed to directly cross the cell membrane. Peptides can induce cell death by numerous mechanisms including membrane disruption and subsequent necrosis, apoptosis, tumor angiogenesis inhibition, immune regulation, disruption of cell signaling pathways, cell cycle regulation, DNA repair pathways, or cell death pathways. Although using peptides as therapeutics has many advantages, peptides have the disadvantage of being easily degraded by proteases once administered and, depending on the mode of administration, often have difficulty being adsorbed into the blood stream. In this review, we discuss strategies recently developed to overcome these obstacles of peptide delivery and bioavailability. In addition, we present many examples of peptides developed to fight cancer.

Forward Precision Medicine: Micelles for Active Targeting Driven by Peptides

Precision medicine is based on innovative administration methods of active principles. Drug delivery on tissue of interest allows improving the therapeutic index and reducing the side effects. Active targeting by means of drug-encapsulated micelles decorated with targeting bioactive moieties represents a new frontier. Between the bioactive moieties, peptides, for their versatility, easy synthesis and immunogenicity, can be selected to direct a drug toward a considerable number of molecular targets overexpressed on both cancer vasculature and cancer cells. Moreover, short peptide sequences can facilitate cellular intake. This review focuses on micelles achieved by self-assembling or mixing peptide-grafted surfactants or peptide-decorated amphiphilic copolymers. Nanovectors loaded with hydrophobic or hydrophilic cytotoxic drugs or with gene silence sequences and externally functionalized with natural or synthetic peptides are described based on their formulation and in vitro and in vivo behaviors.

Paclitaxel-loaded polymeric nanoparticles based on α-tocopheryl succinate for the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: in vivo murine model

The prognosis of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) is generally poor. New treatments are required to supplement the current standard of care. Paclitaxel (PTX), an effective chemotherapeutic for HNSCC, has serious side effects. A polymeric nanocarrier system was developed for the delivery of PTX to improve HNSCC treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the antitumor efficacy of PTX-loaded polymeric nanoparticles based on α-TOS (PTX-NPs) administered by direct intratumoral injection into a Hypopharynx carcinoma squamous cells (FaDu) tumor xenograft mouse model. The nanocarrier system based on block copolymers of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and a methacrylic derivative of α-TOS was synthesized and PTX was loaded into the delivery system. Tumor volume was measured to evaluate the antitumor effect of the PTX-NPs. The relative mechanisms of apoptosis, cell proliferation, growth, angiogenesis, and oxidative and nitrosative stress were detected by Western blotting, fluorescent probes, and immunohistochemical analysis. The antitumor activity results showed that compared to free PTX, PTX-NPs exhibited much higher antitumor efficacy and apoptosis-inducing in a FaDu mouse xenograft model and demonstrated an improved safety profile. Ki-67, EGFR, and angiogenesis markers (Factor VIII, CD31, and CD34) expression were significantly lower in the PTX-NPs group compared with other groups (p < .05). Also, PTX-NPs induced oxidative and nitrosative stress in tumor tissue. Direct administration of PTX-loaded polymeric nanoparticles based on α-Tocopheryl Succinate at the tumor sites, proved to be promising for HNSCC therapy.

Quantitative evaluation of cellular internalization of polymeric nanoparticles within laryngeal cancer cells and immune cells for enhanced drug delivery

Clinical translation of poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-based nanomedicine is limited, partly because of the poor delivery efficiency resulting from non-specific phagocytosis by phagocytes. Understanding the nanoparticle interplay between cancer cells and immune cells remains largely elusive. In this study, a quantitative investigation on cellular internalization of fluorescent PLGA particles (100 nm, 500 nm, and 1 µm) against laryngeal carcinoma cells with or without monocytes/macrophages in monoculture or co-culture systems was first performed. PLGA particles at concentrations of 5-20 µg/mL show superior biocompatibility except for 500 nm and 1 µm PLGA particles at 20 µg/mL slightly reduce cell viability. Microscopic observation has discovered all three sizes of particles are effectively ingested by both cancer cells and macrophages; however, quantitative fluorescence examination has disclosed that the uptake index of cancer cells (mean intracellular particle fluorescence per cancer cell normalized to that of per macrophage) is substantially declined for all PLGA particles in co-cultures compared to that in monocultures (1.35-1.05, 1.50-0.59, and 1.4-0.47 for 100 nm, 500 nm, and 1 µm particles, respectively). Quantitative analysis using flow cytometry further confirmed the reduced uptake index of cancer cells in co-cultures, but higher particle counts per macrophage. It has also been found that the formation of multinucleated giant cells via the fusion of macrophages increased after PLGA treatment, which could be further exploited as a potential approach for tumor drug delivery. Overall, these findings provide new insights into the interaction of nanoparticle-immune-cancer cells, which may facilitate the application of PLGA-based nanocarriers for the treatment of laryngeal carcinoma.

Radiolabeled Peptide Probes for Liver Cancer Imaging

Liver cancer/Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer death and represents an important cause of mortality worldwide. Several biomarkers are overexpressed in liver cancer, such as Glypican 3 (GPC3) and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR). These biomarkers play important roles in the progression of tumors and could serve as imaging and therapeutic targets for this disease. Peptides with adequate stability, receptor binding properties, and biokinetic behavior have been intensively studied for liver cancer imaging. A great variety of them have been radiolabeled with clinically relevant radionuclides for liver cancer diagnosis, and many are promising imaging and therapeutic candidates for clinical translation. Herein, we summarize the advancement of radiolabeled peptides for the targeted imaging of liver cancer.

Amphiphilic drug-peptide-polymer conjugates based on poly(ethylene glycol) and hyperbranched polyglycerol for epidermal growth factor receptor targeting: the effect of conjugate aggregation on in vitro activity

Numerous peptide-drug conjugates have been developed over the years to enhance the specificity and selectivity of chemotherapeutic agents for tumour cells. In our present work, epidermal growth factor receptor targeting drug-peptide conjugates were prepared using GE11 and D4 peptides. To ensure the drug release, the cathepsin B labile GFLG spacer was incorporated between the targeting peptide and the drug molecule (daunomycin), which significantly increased the hydrophobicity and thereby decreased the water solubility of the conjugates. To overcome the solubility problem, drug-peptide-polymer conjugates with systematic structural variations were prepared, by linking poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or a well-defined amino-monofunctional hyperbranched polyglycerol (HbPG) directly or via a pentaglycine spacer to the targeting peptides. All the drug-peptide-polymer conjugates were water-soluble as confirmed by turbidimetric measurements. The results of the in vitro cell viability and cellular uptake measurements on HT-29 human colon adenocarcinoma cells proved that the HbPG and the PEG highly influenced the biological activity. The conjugation of the hydrophilic polymer resulted in the amphiphilic character of the conjugates, which led to self-aggregation and nanoparticle formation that decreased the cellular uptake above a specific aggregation concentration. On the other hand, the hydrodynamic volume and the different polymer chain topology of the linear PEG and the compact hyperbranched HbPG also played an important role in the biological activity. Therefore, in similar systems, the investigation of the colloidal properties is inevitable for the better understanding of the biological activity, which can reveal the structure-activity relationship of amphiphilic drug-peptide-polymer conjugates for efficient tumour targeting.

Constructing a better binding peptide for drug delivery targeting the interleukin-4 receptor

Targeted delivery of antitumor drugs is especially important for tumour therapy. Tumour targeting peptides have been shown to be very effective drug carriers for tumour therapy. Interleukin-4 receptor (IL-4R) is overexpressed on the surface of various human solid tumours. To obtain a better targeting peptide, we first designed a novel targeting peptide derived from interleukin-4 (IL-4), ILBP-b. ILBP-b contains the key high-affinity binding residue E9 of IL-4 to IL-4R. Compared with a reported targeting peptide ILBP-a (containing another key high affinity residue R88), ILBP-b was proved to be a better targeting peptide by the fluorescence experiments. Then, we further fused ILBP-b and ILBP-a to increase the multisite-binding ability of ILBP-b and got a better targeting peptide ILBP-ba. ILBP-ba showed a stronger preferential binding ability to IL-4R high-expressing cells than ILBP-a and ILBP-b. Competitive binding experiments demonstrated ILBP-ba specifically targets IL-4R. By fusing ILBP-ba with drug protein trichosanthin (TCS), in vitro drug carrying experiments showed that ILBP-ba could specifically enhance the killing effect of TCS on IL-4R high-expressing tumour cells (more than 10 folds). These results indicated that ILBP-ba has great potential for drug delivery applications targeting IL-4R and will be beneficial for the development of tumour therapeutic agents.

Targeting drug delivery system for platinum(Ⅳ)-Based antitumor complexes

Classical platinum(II) anticancer agents are widely-used chemotherapeutic drugs in the clinic against a range of cancers. However, severe systemic toxicity and drug resistance have become the main obstacles which limit their application and effectiveness. Because divalent cisplatin analogues are easily destroyed in vivo, their bioavailability is low and no selective to tumor tissues. The platinum(IV) prodrugs are attractive compounds for cancer treatment because they have great advantages, e.g., higher stability in biological media, aqueous solubility and no cross-resistance with cisplatin, which may become the next generation of platinum anticancer drugs. In addition, platinum(IV) drugs could be taken orally, which could be more acceptable to cancer patients, breaking the current situation that platinum(II) drugs can only be given by injection. The coupling of platinum(IV) complexes with tumor targeting groups avoids the disadvantages such as instability in blood, irreversible binding to plasma proteins, rapid renal clearance, and non-specific distribution in normal tissues. Because of the above advantages, the combination of platinum complexes and tumor targeting groups has become the hottest field in the research and development of new platinum drugs. These approaches can be roughly categorized into two groups: active and passive targeted strategies. This review concentrates on various targeting and delivery strategies for platinum(IV) complexes to improve the efficacy and reduce the side effects of platinum-based anticancer drugs. We have made a summary of the related articles on platinum(IV) targeted delivery in recent years. We believe the results of the studies described in this review will provide new ideas and strategies for the development of platinum drugs.

Surface engineering of nanomaterials with phospholipid-polyethylene glycol-derived functional conjugates for molecular imaging and targeted therapy

In recent years, phospholipid-polyethylene glycol-derived functional conjugates have been widely employed to decorate different nanomaterials, due to their excellent biocompatibility, long blood circulation characteristics, and specific targeting capability. Numerous in vivo studies have demonstrated that nanomedicines peripherally engineered with phospholipid-polyethylene glycol-derived functional conjugates show significantly increased selective and efficient internalization by target cells/tissues. Targeting moieties including small-molecule ligands, peptides, proteins, and antibodies are generally conjugated onto PEGylated phospholipids to decorate liposomes, micelles, hybrid nanoparticles, nanocomplexes, and nanoemulsions for targeted delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents to diseased sites. In this review, the synthesis methods of phospholipid-polyethylene glycol-derived functional conjugates, biophysicochemical properties of nanomedicines decorated with these conjugates, factors dominating their targeting efficiency, as well as their applications for in vivo molecular imaging and targeted therapy were summarized and discussed.

Phage display screening of therapeutic peptide for cancer targeting and therapy

Recently, phage display technology has been announced as the recipient of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018. Phage display technique allows high affinity target-binding peptides to be selected from a complex mixture pool of billions of displayed peptides on phage in a combinatorial library and could be further enriched through the biopanning process; proving to be a powerful technique in the screening of peptide with high affinity and selectivity. In this review, we will first discuss the modifications in phage display techniques used to isolate various cancer-specific ligands by in situ, in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo screening methods. We will then discuss prominent examples of solid tumor targeting-peptides; namely peptide targeting tumor vasculature, tumor microenvironment (TME) and over-expressed receptors on cancer cells identified through phage display screening. We will also discuss the current challenges and future outlook for targeting peptide-based therapeutics in the clinics.

Cancer-targeted delivery systems based on peptides

There is a growing interest for the discovery of new cancer-targeted delivery systems for drug delivery and diagnosis. A synopsis of the bibliographic data will be presented on bombesin, neurotensin, octreotide, Arg-Gly-Asp, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone and other peptides. Many of them have reached the clinics for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes, and have been utilized as carriers of known cytotoxic agents such as doxorubicin, paclitaxel, cisplatin, methotrexate or dyes and radioisotopes. In our article, recent advances in the development of peptides as carriers of cytotoxic drugs or radiometals will be analyzed.

Exploring pitfalls of 64Cu-labeled EGFR-targeting peptide GE11 as a potential PET tracer

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) represents an important molecular target for both radiotracer-based diagnostic imaging and radionuclide therapy of various cancer entities. For the delivery of radionuclides to the tumor, peptides hold great potential as a transport vehicle. With respect to EGFR, the peptide YHWYGYTPQNVI (GE11) has been reported to bind the receptor with high specificity and affinity. In the present study, GE11 with β-alanine (β-Ala-GE11) was conjugated to the chelating agent p-SCN-Bn-NOTA and radiolabeled with ⁶⁴Cu for the first radio pharmacological evaluation as a potential probe for positron emission tomography (PET)-based cancer imaging. For better water solubility, an ethylene glycol-based linker was introduced between the peptide's N terminus and the radionuclide chelator. The stability of the ⁶⁴Cu-labeled peptide conjugate and its binding to EGFR-expressing tumor cells was investigated in vitro and in vivo, and then compared with the ⁶⁴Cu-labeled EGFR-targeting antibody conjugate NOTA-cetuximab. The GE11 peptide conjugate [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-NOTA-linker-β-Ala-GE11 ([⁶⁴Cu]Cu-1) was stable in a buffer solution for at least 24 h but only 50% of the original compound was detected after 24 h of incubation in human serum. Stability could be improved by amidation of the peptide's C terminus (β-Ala-GE11-NH₂ (2)). Binding assays with both conjugates, [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-1 and [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-2, using the EGFR-expressing tumor cell lines A431 and FaDu showed no specific binding. A pilot small animal PET investigation in FaDu tumor-bearing mice revealed only low tumor uptake (standard uptake value (SUV) < 0.2) for both conjugates. The best tumor-to-muscle ratio determined was 3.75 for [⁶⁴Cu]Cu-1, at 1 h post injection. In conclusion, the GE11 conjugates in its present form are not suitable for further biological investigations, since they presumably form aggregates.

Development of Orally Applicable, Combinatorial Drug-Loaded Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Fibrosarcoma

Nanoparticulate systems have been receiving a significant attention especially for the treatment of cancer but one of the main hurdles is to produce these developed and high-tech nanosystems in large quantities. Anticancer drug formulations are generally designed for parenteral administrations but oral administration is still the most convenient route. In this study, orally applicable nano-sized chitosan nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully prepared using Nano Spray Dryer. It is possible to produce these NPs in large quantities by simply increasing the processing time using the machine without changing any parameter. A chemotherapeutic agent (imatinib mesylate; IMA) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (dexketoprofen trometamol) were loaded together in these NPs. NPs were also functionalized with polyethylene glycol and folic acid to obtain long circulating NPs and tumor targeting. The antitumoral activities of formulations showed that these developed NPs can enhance the effectiveness. Animal experiments were performed on fibrosarcoma-bearing mice model, and the treatment with 0.8 mg/μL/kg IMA-loaded chitosan NPs was found to be successful to slow down the growth of tumors. The tumor tissues were removed from the animals and enzymatic activities were evaluated. The inhibitory effect of tyrosine kinase was found to be enhanced from 36.4% to 68.4% when IMA was used in combination with dexketoprofen trometamol. Furthermore, all dried NPs were found to be stable for more than a year at 25°C. Presented results show that these developed combinatorial drug-loaded NPs can be used for the treatment of fibrosarcoma, and these data can provide an insight, new strategies for productions or alternatives in cancer treatment.

99mTc-radiolabeled GE11-modified peptide for ovarian tumor targeting

Background

Ovarian cancer is a serious threat for women health and the early diagnosis of this cancer might improves the survival rate of patients. The use of the targeted radiopharmaceuticals could be a non-invasive and logical method for tumor imaging. The aim of this study was to radiolabel GE11 peptide as a new specific probe for imaging of ovarian tumor.

Methods

HYNIC-SSS-GE11 peptide was labeled with ^99mTc using tricine as a coligand. The ^99mTc-tricine-HYNIC-SSS-GE11 peptide was evaluated for specific cellular binding in three cell lines with different levels of EGFR expression. Tumor targeting was assessed in SKOV3 tumor bearing mice.

Results

By using tricine as a coligand, labeling yield was more than 98% and the stability of the radiolabelled peptide in human serum up to 4 h was 96%. The in vitro cell uptake test showed that this radiolabeled peptide had a good affinity to SKOV3 cells with dissociation constant of 73 nM. The in vivo results showed a tumor/muscle ratio of 3.2 at 4 h following injection of ^99mTc-tricine-HYNIC-SSS-GE11 peptide.

Conclusions

Results of this study showed that ^99mTc-tricine-HYNIC-SSS-GE11 peptide could be a promising tool for diagnosis and staging of ovarian cancer.

Graphical Abstract

^99mTc-tricine-HYNIC-SSS-GE11, a novl targeted agent for ovarian tumor imaging

EGFR-targeting peptide-coupled platinum(IV) complexes

The high mortality rate of lung cancer patients and the frequent occurrence of side effects during cancer therapy demonstrate the need for more selective and targeted drugs. An important and well-established target for lung cancer treatment is the occasionally mutated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). As platinum(II) drugs are still the most important therapeutics against lung cancer, we synthesized in this study the first platinum(IV) complexes coupled to the EGFR-targeting peptide LARLLT (and the shuffled RTALLL as reference). Notably, HPLC–MS measurements revealed two different peaks with the same molecular mass, which turned out to be a transcyclization reaction in the linker between maleimide and the coupled cysteine moiety. With regard to the EGFR specificity, subsequent biological investigations (3-day viability, 14-day clonogenic assays and platinum uptake) on four different cell lines with different verified EGFR expression levels were performed. Unexpectedly, the results showed neither an enhanced activity nor an EGFR expression-dependent uptake of our new compounds. Consequently, fluorophore-coupled peptides were synthesized to re-evaluate the targeting ability of LARLLT itself. However, also with these molecules, flow cytometry measurements showed no correlation of drug uptake with the EGFR expression levels. Taken together, we successfully synthesized the first platinum(IV) complexes coupled to an EGFR-targeting peptide; however, the biological investigations revealed that LARLLT is not an appropriate peptide for enhancing the specific uptake of small-molecule drugs into EGFR-overexpressing cancer cells.

Incorporation of Peptides Targeting EGFR and FGFR1 into the Adenoviral Fiber Knob Domain and Their Evaluation as Targeted Cancer Therapies

Oncolytic virotherapies based on adenovirus 5 (Ad5) hold promise as adjunctive cancer therapies; however, their efficacy when delivered systemically is hampered by poor target cell specificity and preexisting anti-Ad5 immunity. Ovarian cancer represents a promising target for virotherapy, since the virus can be delivered locally into the peritoneal cavity. Both epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) are overexpressed in the majority of human tumors, including ovarian cancer. To generate adenoviral vectors with improved tumor specificity, we generated a panel of Ad5 vectors with altered tropism for EGFR and FGFR, rather than the natural Ad5 receptor, hCAR. We have included mutations within AB loop of the viral fiber knob (KO1 mutation) to preclude interaction with hCAR, combined with insertions in the HI loop to incorporate peptides that bind either EGFR (peptide YHWYGYTPQNVI, GE11) or FGFR1 (peptides MQLPLAT, M*, and LSPPRYP, LS). Viruses were produced to high titers, and the integrity of the fiber protein was validated by Western blotting. The KO1 mutation efficiently ablated hCAR interactions, and significantly increased transduction was observed in hCAR^low/EGFR^high cell lines using Ad5.GE11, while transduction levels using Ad5.M* or Ad5.LS were not increased. In the presence of physiological concentrations of human blood clotting factor X (hFX), significantly increased levels of transduction via the hFX-mediated pathway were observed in cell lines, but not in primary tumor cells derived from epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) ascites samples. Ad5-mediated transduction of EOC cells was completely abolished by the presence of 2.5% serum from patients, while, surprisingly, incorporation of the GE11 peptide resulted in significant evasion of neutralization in the same samples. We thus speculate that incorporation of the YHWYGYTPQNVI dodecapeptide within the fiber knob domain may provide a novel means of circumventing preexisting Ad5 immunity that warrants further investigation.

TPGS/Phospholipids Mixed Micelles for Delivery of Icariside II to Multidrug-Resistant Breast Cancer

The biggest challenge for the treatment of multidrug resistant cancer is to deliver a high concentration of anticancer drugs to cancer cells. Icariside II is a flavonoid from Epimedium koreanum Nakai with remarkable anticancer properties, but poor solubility and significant efflux from cancer cells limited its clinical use. In our previous study, a self-assembled mixture of micelles (TPGS-Icariside II-phospholipid complex) was successfully constructed, which could substantially increase the solubility of Icariside II and inhibit the efflux on Caco-2 cells. In this study, we evaluate the anticancer effect of the mixed micelles encapsulating Icariside II (Icar-MC) on MCF-7/ADR, a multidrug-resistant breast cancer cell line. The cellular uptake of the micelles was confirmed by fluorescent coumarin-6-loaded micelles. The IC50 of Icar-MC in MCF-7/ADR was 2-fold less than the free drug. The in vitro study showed Icar-MC induced more apoptosis and lactate dehydrogenase release. Intravenous injection of Icar-MC into nude mice bearing MCF-7/ADR xenograft resulted in a better antitumor efficacy compared with the administration of free drug, without causing significant body weight changes in mice. The antitumor effect was further verified by magnetic resonance imaging and immunohistochemical assays for Ki-67, a proliferative indicator. Moreover, Icar-MC treatment also elevated Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and the expressions of cleaved caspase-3, -8, -9 and AIFM1 in tumors. This study suggests that phospholipid/TPGS mixed micelles might be a suitable drug delivery system for Icariside II to treat multidrug resistant breast cancer.

Peptide GE11-Polyethylene Glycol-Polyethylenimine for targeted gene delivery in laryngeal cancer

The objective of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using GE11-polyethylene glycol-polyethylenimine (GE11-PEG-PEI) for targeted gene delivery to treat epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-overexpressing laryngeal cancer. This study described the design, characterization, and in vitro and in vivo study of the nanocarrier GE11-PEG-PEI for gene delivery to treat laryngeal cancer. Analysis of the sizes and zeta potentials indicated that the formation of PEGylated complexes was dependent on the N/P ratio, and these complexes were capable of binding plasmid DNA and condensing DNA into small positively charged nanoparticles. The results also revealed that GE11-PEG-PEI had a weaker effect on cell survival in vitro. Gene transfection was performed on human laryngeal cancer Hep-2 cells in vitro and in vivo. Both the in vitro and in vivo results demonstrated that GE11-PEG-PEI had greater transfection efficiency than mPEG-PEI. Compared with mPEG-PEI/pORF-hTRAIL and saline, GE11-PEG-PEI/pORFh-TRAIL significantly (p < 0.05) reduced tumor growth in nude mice with laryngeal cancer. Moreover, the GE11-PEG-PEI/pORF-hTRAIL-treated groups showed more apoptosis than the mPEG-PEI/pORF-hTRAIL-treated groups. Therefore, our results showed that the peptide GE11 conjugated to PEG-PEI delivered significantly more genes to EGFR-overexpressing laryngeal cancer cells in vivo, indicating that GE11-PEG-PEI may be a suitable gene vector for treating EGFR-overexpressing laryngeal cancer.