To capture extracellular amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) for autophagic clearance, a self-destructive nanosweeper is designed with cationic chitosan core, Beclin 1 peptide and PEG conjugated KLVFF sequence that recognizes and co-assembles with Aβ; the nanosweeper reduces Aβ-induced cytotoxicity in mouse neuroblastoma cells, clears Aβ in the brain of Alzheimer’s disease mouse model and rescues memory deficits (Luo et al., 2018). Here, BECN1 is linked to Alzheimer disease.