title: The delivery of biologically active (therapeutic) peptides and proteins into cells.
abstract: Biologically active peptides and proteins have a great potential to act as targeted drug therapies in the treatment of a variety of diseases, including cancer. However, their use in vivo is limited by their low stability and cell permeability. Thus, it is necessary to develop efficient and safe peptide/protein delivery systems that can overcome these problems and increase a therapy's bioavailability. The search for promising vectors has led to the use of compounds called cell-penetrating peptides or protein transduction domains. The cell-penetrating peptides, as effective transporter, are utilized to enhance uptake of various biologically active peptide/protein cargos upon fusion or attachment to its sequences. Cell-penetrating peptides have been the subject of investigation of many researchers, however this review only focuses on the arginine-rich and amphipathic carriers and their potential therapeutic use.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Medicine, Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia. grdisa@irb.hr
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grdisa
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D010455:Peptides / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011506:Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides; D004337:Drug Carriers; D010455:Peptides; D011506:Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators