Abstract.
Facilitating the entry of molecules into mammalian cells is of great interest to fields as diverse as cell biology and drug delivery. The discovery of natural protein transduction domains and the development of artificial ones, including polyarginine, provides a means to achieve this goal. Here, we comment on key chemical and biological aspects of cationic peptide internalization, including the physiological relevance of this process.
Keywords. Endocytosis, heparan sulfate proteoglycan, HIV-TAT, polyarginine, protein transduction domain
Footnotes
Received 13 April 2006; received after revision 21 May 2006; accepted 2 June 2006