Intracellular Biomacromolecule Delivery by Stimuli-Responsive Protein Vesicles Loaded by Hydrophobic Ion Pairing.

ABSTRACT: Proteins can perform ideal therapeutic functions. However, their large size and significant surface hydrophilicity and charge prohibit them from reaching intracellular targets. These chemical features also render them poorly encapsulated by nanoparticles used for intracellular delivery. In this work, a novel combination of protein vesicles and hydrophobic ion pairing (HIP) was used to load protein cargo and achieve cytosolic delivery to overcome the limitations of previous protein vesicle properties. Protein vesicles are thermally self-assembling nanoparticles made from elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) fused to an arginine-rich leucine zipper and a globular protein fused to a glutamate-rich leucine zipper. To impart stimuli-responsive disassembly, physiological stability, and small size, the

SUBMITTER: Gray MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11780410 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature