Bottom-up engineering of peptide cell translocators based on environmentally modulated quadrupole switches.

Fernández, Ariel; Crespo, Alejandro; Maddipati, Sridhar; Scott, Ridgway · ACS Nano · 2008

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Designing water-soluble peptides that camouflage their polarity to cross an anhydrous phase may significantly impact drug delivery. We engineered neutrally charged peptides endowed with a conformational switch that enables them to solubilize in both water and lipid. These peptides are capable of translocating without resorting to active internalization mechanisms. Lipid solubility is induced by a quadrupolar arrangement. Our passive translocation motif possesses the highest efficiency and is derived from cellular prions.

Medical subject headings