Abstract
for practical protein therapeutics and diagnostics, it is necessary to develop a method that can effectively and specifically deliver proteins into cells. Therefore, the peptide fusion strategy with an enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was introduced to compare protein delivery efficiency in breast cancer cells among six tumor-homing peptides (THPs). Six THP-fused eGFPs were successfully cloned and expressed recombinantly in Escherichia coli. First, CGKRK-fused eGFP showed concentration-dependent and cell-type-specific protein delivery to MDA-MB-231 due to p32 protein. Second, PL3R-fused eGFP of 50 µg/mL showed more efficient protein delivery than eGFP of 50 µg/mL into MDA-MB-231. Finally, under extended comparison among fusion partners, CTTHWGFTLC peptide showed 581% cellular delivery to MDA-MB-231 cells than eGFP. This finding could help increase protein delivery to specific cancer cells for cancer research and diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
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This research was supported by the Incheon National University Research Grant in 2019.
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Lee, Y.E., Hwang, B.H. Tumor Homing Peptides as Fusion Partners of Therapeutic Proteins for Efficient Delivery to Cancer Cells. Biotechnol Bioproc E 28, 483–490 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-022-0139-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-022-0139-0