HIV-TAT Family

What's cell-penetrating peptides?

The selective permeability of cell membranes plays a very important role in maintaining the stability of the intracellular environment, but this property of cell membranes restricts the entry of some biomolecules and drugs into cells, which is not conducive to the diagnosis of some intracellular diseases and the application of drug-targeted therapy. How to get some biomolecules and drugs with diagnostic and therapeutic potential through the cell membrane into the cell has been a hot and difficult research issue in the medical community. Cell-penetrating peptides are short peptides that can carry peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, nanoparticles, viral particles and drugs across cell membranes and into cells, leading to the internalization of intact carriers, providing a powerful vehicle for biomolecules and drugs to enter cells. Currently, cell-penetrating peptides have shown potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications as carriers of biomolecules and drug internalisation in fluorescence imaging, tumour therapy, anti-inflammatory therapy and drug-targeted therapy. HIV-TAT Family Nuclear is the first cell-penetrating peptide to be identified.

What's HIV-TAT Family Nuclear?

HIV-TAT is the trans-activator of transcription (Tat) protein of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which was discovered by Frankel in 1988 to enter cultured cells and promote viral gene expression. HIV-TAT can enter cells directly through the membrane in a non-energy and temperature-dependent manner. Veach et al. found that Tat proteins were internalised with the same efficiency at 4℃ and 37℃ and that the internalisation process was not blocked in ATP deleted cells.

Application of HIV-TAT Family Nuclear

Among the range of applications for HIV-TAT Family Nuclear, the most valuable is as a delivery vehicle to promote the effectiveness of drugs in the treatment of disease. Its ability to introduce drugs and other therapeutic molecules into cells gives the membrane penetrating peptide great therapeutic potential. For example, TAT-linked p53 protein (RI-TAT-p53C) and R11-linked p53 protein and haemagglutinin HA-2 (d11R-p53C-riHA2) were effective in promoting tumour cell apoptosis and prolonging the life span of mice after intraperitoneal injection into a lymphoma mouse model. p53 is a tumour suppressor and mutations in p53 are found in 50% of tumours. The TAT-linked P15 protein has also been shown to have tumour suppressive effects in several tumour cell models and in vivo experiments.