穿膜肽的内化机制及其应用

Mechanism of Cell-penetrating Peptides-mediated Internalization and Its Application

穿膜肽是一类具有特殊穿膜功能的多肽分子,能携带其它分子甚至超分子颗粒穿膜进入细胞内部.早期研究认为,其进胞是一种无需受体、也不存在饱和状态的非经典胞吞行为.近年研究表明,其穿膜机制可能与其含有的氨基酸种类有很大关系.现在,穿膜肽的穿膜过程称为巨型胞饮行为,它与传统的胞吞形式很相似.当然,还可能存在着其它的进胞方式而没有被证明或发现.关于穿膜肽的应用也是人们最感兴趣的,在很多领域的研究都在进行并不断取得进展.不论是生物界还是医学界,穿膜肽都被认为将是一类非常有发展潜力的多肽分子.

Cell-penetrating peptides （CPPs） are short peptides of less than 30 amino acids and are able to penetrate cell membranes to transfer different cargoes into the cells. Internalized CPP cargoes range from small compounds to proteins and even supramolecular particles. In recent years, scientific studies have brought better understandings about the structures, biological properties, such as cytotoxicities, and internalization mechanisms of CPPs to penetrate membranes. CPPs are being developed into novel vehicles for cargo transportation into the cells, therefore, has been regarded as promising agents for drug delivery.