Applications of cell-penetrating peptides in regulation of gene expression

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 770-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Järver ◽  
K. Langel ◽  
S. El-Andaloussi ◽  
Ü. Langel

CPPs (cell-penetrating peptides) can be defined as short peptides that are able to efficiently penetrate cellular lipid bilayers. Because of this remarkable feature, they are excellent candidates regarding alterations in gene expression. CPPs have been utilized in in vivo and in vitro experiments as delivery vectors for different bioactive cargoes. This review focuses on the experiments performed in recent years where CPPs have been used as vectors for multiple effectors of gene expression such as oligonucleotides for antisense, siRNA (small interfering RNA) and decoy dsDNA (double-stranded DNA) applications, and as transfection agents for plasmid delivery.

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 807-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A. Moschos ◽  
A.E. Williams ◽  
M.A. Lindsay

The therapeutic application of siRNA (short interfering RNA) shows promise as an alternative approach to small-molecule inhibitors for the treatment of human disease. However, the major obstacle to its use has been the difficulty in delivering these large anionic molecules in vivo. A potential approach to solving this problem is the chemical conjugation of siRNA to the cationic CPPs (cell-penetrating peptides), Tat-(48–60) (transactivator of transcription) and penetratin, which have been shown previously to mediate protein and peptide delivery in a host of animal models. In this transaction, we review recent studies on the utility of siRNA for the investigation of protein function in the airways/lung. We show that, despite previous studies showing the utility of cationic CPPs in vitro, conjugation of siRNA to Tat-(48–60) and penetratin failed to increase residual siRNA-mediated knockdown of p38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) (MAPK14) mRNA in mouse lung in vivo. Significantly, we will also discuss potential non-specific actions and the induction of immunological responses by CPPs and their conjugates and how this might limit their application for siRNA-mediated delivery in vivo.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Temitayo O. Idowu ◽  
Valerie Etzrodt ◽  
Thorben Pape ◽  
Joerg Heineke ◽  
Klaus Stahl ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Reduced endothelial Tie2 expression occurs in diverse experimental models of critical illness, and experimental Tie2 suppression is sufficient to increase spontaneous vascular permeability. Looking for a common denominator among different critical illnesses that could drive the same Tie2 suppressive (thereby leak inducing) phenotype, we identified “circulatory shock” as a shared feature and postulated a flow-dependency of Tie2 gene expression in a GATA3 dependent manner. Here, we analyzed if this mechanism of flow-regulation of gene expression exists in vivo in the absence of inflammation. Results To experimentally mimic a shock-like situation, we developed a murine model of clonidine-induced hypotension by targeting a reduced mean arterial pressure (MAP) of approximately 50% over 4 h. We found that hypotension-induced reduction of flow in the absence of confounding disease factors (i.e., inflammation, injury, among others) is sufficient to suppress GATA3 and Tie2 transcription. Conditional endothelial-specific GATA3 knockdown (B6-Gata3tm1-Jfz VE-Cadherin(PAC)-cerERT2) led to baseline Tie2 suppression inducing spontaneous vascular leak. On the contrary, the transient overexpression of GATA3 in the pulmonary endothelium (jet-PEI plasmid delivery platform) was sufficient to increase Tie2 at baseline and completely block its hypotension-induced acute drop. On the functional level, the Tie2 protection by GATA3 overexpression abrogated the development of pulmonary capillary leakage. Conclusions The data suggest that the GATA3–Tie2 signaling pathway might play a pivotal role in controlling vascular barrier function and that it is affected in diverse critical illnesses with shock as a consequence of a flow-regulated gene response. Targeting this novel mechanism might offer therapeutic opportunities to treat vascular leakage of diverse etiologies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. e1002728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermine Mohr ◽  
Christian A. Mohr ◽  
Marlon R. Schneider ◽  
Laura Scrivano ◽  
Barbara Adler ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1856
Author(s):  
Qi Shuai ◽  
Yue Cai ◽  
Guangkuo Zhao ◽  
Xuanrong Sun

On account of their excellent capacity to significantly improve the bioavailability and solubility of chemotherapy drugs, amphiphilic block copolymer-based micelles have been widely utilized for chemotherapy drug delivery. In order to further improve the antitumor ability and to also reduce undesired side effects of drugs, cell-penetrating peptides have been used to functionalize the surface of polymer micelles endowed with the ability to target tumor tissues. Herein, we first synthesized functional polyethylene glycol-polylactic acid (PEG-PLA) tethered with maleimide at the PEG section of the block polymer, which was further conjugated with a specific peptide, the transactivating transcriptional activator (TAT), with an approved capacity of aiding translocation across the plasma membrane. Then, TAT-conjugated, paclitaxel-loaded nanoparticles were self-assembled into stable nanoparticles with a favorable size of 20 nm, and displayed a significantly increased cytotoxicity, due to their enhanced accumulation via peptide-mediated cellular association in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) in vitro. But when further used in vivo, TAT-NP-PTX showed an acceleration of the drug’s plasma clearance rate compared with NP-PTX, and therefore weakened its antitumor activities in the mice model, because of its positive charge, its elimination by the endoplasmic reticulum system more quickly, and its targeting effect on normal cells leading towards being more toxic. So further modification of TAT-NP-PTX to shield TAT peptide’s positive charges may be a hot topic to overcome the present dilemma.


Blood ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 89 (12) ◽  
pp. 4282-4289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenlin Shao ◽  
Laura Benedetti ◽  
William W. Lamph ◽  
Clara Nervi ◽  
Wilson H. Miller

Abstract The unique t(15; 17) of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) fuses the PML gene with the retinoic acid receptor α (RARα) gene. Although retinoic acid (RA) inhibits cell growth and induces differentiation in human APL cells, resistance to RA develops both in vitro and in patients. We have developed RA-resistant subclones of the human APL cell line, NB4, whose nuclear extracts display altered RA binding. In the RA-resistant subclone, R4, we find an absence of ligand binding of PML-RARα associated with a point mutation changing a leucine to proline in the ligand-binding domain of the fusion PML-RARα protein. In contrast to mutations in RARα found in retinoid-resistant HL60 cells, in this NB4 subclone, the coexpressed RARα remains wild-type. In vitro expression of a cloned PML-RARα with the observed mutation in R4 confirms that this amino acid change causes the loss of ligand binding, but the mutant PML-RARα protein retains the ability to heterodimerize with RXRα and thus to bind to retinoid response elements (RAREs). This leads to a dominant negative block of transcription from RAREs that is dose-dependent and not relieved by RA. An unrearranged RARα engineered with this mutation also lost ligand binding and inhibited transcription in a dominant negative manner. We then found that the mutant PML-RARα selectively alters regulation of gene expression in the R4 cell line. R4 cells have lost retinoid-regulation of RXRα and RARβ and the RA-induced loss of PML-RARα protein seen in NB4 cells, but retain retinoid-induction of CD18 and CD38. Thus, the R4 cell line provides data supporting the presence of an RARα-mediated pathway that is independent from gene expression induced or repressed by PML-RARα. The high level of retinoid resistance in vitro and in vivo of cells from some relapsed APL patients suggests similar molecular changes may occur clinically.


RSC Advances ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (43) ◽  
pp. 24084-24093 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zhang ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Hao Zhang ◽  
Dan Liu ◽  
Linlin Ming ◽  
...  

Hydrophobic cell penetrating peptide PFVYLI-modified liposomes have been developed for the targeted delivery of PTX into tumors.


2010 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Simmons

Under- and over-nutrition during pregnancy has been linked to the later development of diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Epigenetic modifications may be one mechanism by which exposure to an altered intrauterine milieu or metabolic perturbation may influence the phenotype of the organism much later in life. Epigenetic modifications of the genome provide a mechanism that allows the stable propagation of gene expression from one generation of cells to the next. This review highlights our current knowledge of epigenetic gene regulation and the evidence that chromatin remodelling and histone modifications play key roles in adipogenesis and the development of obesity. Epigenetic modifications affecting processes important to glucose regulation and insulin secretion have been described in the pancreatic β-cells and muscle of the intrauterine growth-retarded offspring, characteristics essential to the pathophysiology of type-2 diabetes. Epigenetic regulation of gene expression contributes to both adipocyte determination and differentiation in in vitro models. The contributions of histone acetylation, histone methylation and DNA methylation to the process of adipogenesis in vivo remain to be evaluated.


Peptides ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. 50-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azam Bolhassani ◽  
Behnaz Sadat Jafarzade ◽  
Golnaz Mardani

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1567
Author(s):  
Tomas Venit ◽  
Moataz Dowaidar ◽  
Maxime Gestin ◽  
Syed Raza Mahmood ◽  
Ülo Langel ◽  
...  

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are short peptides that are able to efficiently penetrate cellular lipid bilayers. Although CPPs have been used as carriers in conjugation with certain cargos to target specific genes and pathways, how rationally designed CPPs per se affect global gene expression has not been investigated. Therefore, following time course treatments with 4 CPPs-penetratin, PepFect14, mtCPP1 and TP10, HeLa cells were transcriptionally profiled by RNA sequencing. Results from these analyses showed a time-dependent response to different CPPs, with specific sets of genes related to ribosome biogenesis, microtubule dynamics and long-noncoding RNAs being differentially expressed compared to untreated controls. By using an image-based high content phenotypic profiling platform we confirmed that differential gene expression in CPP-treated HeLa cells strongly correlates with changes in cellular phenotypes such as increased nucleolar size and dispersed microtubules, compatible with altered ribosome biogenesis and cell growth. Altogether these results suggest that cells respond to different cell penetrating peptides by alteration of specific sets of genes, which are possibly part of the common response to such stimulus.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue-Wern Huang ◽  
Han-Jung Lee ◽  
Larry M. Tolliver ◽  
Robert S. Aronstam

Many viral and nonviral systems have been developed to aid delivery of biologically active molecules into cells. Among these, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have received increasing attention in the past two decades for biomedical applications. In this review, we focus on opportunities and challenges associated with CPP delivery of nucleic acids and nanomaterials. We first describe the nature of versatile CPPs and their interactions with various types of cargoes. We then discussin vivoandin vitrodelivery of nucleic acids and nanomaterials by CPPs. Studies on the mechanisms of cellular entry and limitations in the methods used are detailed.


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