Cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) can be used as drug delivery systems for different therapeutic molecules. In this work two novel CPPs, pepR and pepM, designed from two domains of the dengue virus (DENV) capsid protein, were studied for their ability to deliver nucleic acids into cells as non-covalently bound cargo. Translocation studies were performed by confocal microscopy in HepG2, BHK and H...

Cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) are useful tools to deliver low-molecular-weight cargoes into cells; however, their mode of uptake is still controversial. The most efficient CPPs belong to the group of arginine-rich peptides, but a systematic assessment of their potential toxicity is lacking. In this study we combined data on the membrane translocation abilities of oligo-arginines in living ce...

Djeya1 (RKLAFRYRRIKELYNSYR) is a very effective cell penetrating peptide (CPP) that mimics the α5 helix of highly conserved Eya domain (ED) eyes absent (Eya) proteins. The objective this study was to bioengineer analogues that, following translocation into planarian tissues, would reduce ability neoblasts (totipotent stem cells) and their progeny regenerate anterior pole in decapitated S. medit...

BACKGROUND Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) can transport macromolecular cargos into live cells. However, the cellular delivery efficiency of these reagents is often suboptimal because CPP-cargo conjugates typically remain trapped inside endosomes. Interestingly, irradiation of fluorescently labeled CPPs with light increases the release of the peptide and its cargos into the cytosol. However, t...

Lyophilisomes are a novel class of biodegradable proteinaceous nano/micrometer capsules with potential use as drug delivery carrier. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) including the TAT peptide have been successfully implemented for intracellular delivery of a broad variety of cargos including various nanoparticulate pharmaceutical carriers. In the present study, lyophilisomes were modified using...

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are non-invasive vectors that can efficiently transport bioactive cargo across the cell membrane. Naturally occurring CPPs, such as the tegument protein VP22 of the Herpes simplex virus type 1, can potentiate protein-drug delivery into living cells. The aim of the present study was to construct anti-VP22 antibodies that can be used to detect VP22-fusion drugs. T...

Objective: Prepare a multifunctional ultrasound molecular probe, hyaluronic acid-mediated cell-penetrating peptide-modified 10-hydroxycamptothecin-loaded phase-transformation lipid nanoparticles (HA/CPPs-10-HCPT-NPs), and to combine HA/CPPs-10-HCPT-NPs with low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) for precision theranostics against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: HA/CPPs-10-HCPT-NPs wer...

Nonviral gene delivery with synthetic cationic polymeric vectors is widely recognized as an attractive alternative to viral gene delivery, which suffers from inherent immunogenicity and various side effects. The transfection efficiency and chemotoxicity of these polymeric vectors are often closely related to the density of their cationic charge. Materials with low charge density usually show lo...

Overcoming the nonspecific cellular uptake of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) is a major hurdle in their clinical application. Using pH as the activation switch, histidine-glutamic acid (HE) dipeptide repeats were fused to CPPs to trigger the membrane-penetrating activity at mildly acidic pH environments (i.e., pH 6.5 or below) while masking the internalization at neutral pH (i.e., pH 7.0 or a...

Cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) are useful tools to deliver low-molecular-weight cargoes into cells; however, their mode of uptake is still controversial. The most efficient CPPs belong to the group of arginine-rich peptides, but a systematic assessment of their potential toxicity is lacking. In this study we combined data on the membrane translocation abilities of oligo-arginines in living ce...