Substance P derivatives as versatile tools for specific delivery of various types of biomolecular cargo.

ABSTRACT: The use of proteins or nucleic acids as therapeutic agents has been severely hampered by their intrinsic inability to cross the cell membrane. Moreover, common techniques for driving the delivery of macromolecules lack the ability to distinguish between healthy and diseased tissue, precluding their clinical use. Recently, receptor-mediated delivery (RMD) has emerged as a technology with the potential to circumvent the obstacles associated with the delivery of drug targets by utilizing the natural endocytosis of a ligand upon binding to its receptor. Here, we describe the synthesis of variants of substance P (SP), an eleven amino acid neuropeptide ligand of the neurokinin type 1 receptor (NK1R), for the delivery of various types of cargo. The variants of SP were synthesized with an N-termin

SUBMITTER: Rizk SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3268364 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature