Recent advances in the use of protein transduction domains for the delivery of peptides, proteins and nucleic acids invivo

Abstract

Protein transduction domains (PTDs) are small cationic peptides that can facilitate the uptake of large, biologically active molecules into mammalian cells. Recent reports have shown that PTDs can mediate the delivery of cargo to tissues throughout a living organism. Such technology could eliminate the size restrictions on usable drugs, so enabling previously unavailable large molecules to modulate invivo biology and alleviate disease. This article will review the evidence that PTDs can be used both to deliver active molecules to pathological tissue invivo and to treat models of disease such as cancer, ischaemia and inflammation.

• cell-penetrating peptide
• CPP
• protein transduction
• PTD
• TAT