Self-assembly of filamentous cell penetrating peptides for gene delivery

Abstract

Cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been proven to be an effective vector to deliver a variety of membrane-impermeable macromolecules, such as DNAs, siRNAs, and proteins. Conventional single-chain CPPs typically suffer from severe protease degradation and fast clearance rate for in vivo therapeutic delivery application. In this chapter, we show that supramolecular assembly of de novo designed cationic multidomain peptides (MDPs) leads to nanostructured filaments with increased proteolytic stability and potent membrane activity necessary for improved transfection efficiency.