A platform for discovery of functional cell-penetrating peptides for efficient multi-cargo intracellular delivery.

Cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) offer great potential to deliver therapeutic molecules to previously inaccessible intracellular targets. However, many CPPs are inefficient and often leave their attached cargo stranded in the cell's endosome. We report a versatile platform for the isolation of peptides delivering a wide range of cargos into the cytoplasm of cells.

GFP-complementation assay to detect functional CPP and protein delivery into living cells.

Efficient cargo uptake is essential for cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) therapeutics, which deliver widely diverse cargoes by exploiting natural cell processes to penetrate the cell's membranes. Yet most current CPP activity assays are hampered by limitations in assessing uptake, including confounding effects of conjugated fluorophores or ligands, indirect read-outs requiring secondary processing, and difficulty in discriminating internalization from endosomally trapped cargo. Split-complementation Endosomal Escape (SEE) provides the first direct assay visualizing true cytoplasmic-delivery of proteins at biologically relevant concentrations.

Aberrant expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A (ALDH1A) subfamily genes in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is a common feature of T-lineage tumours.

The class 1A aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH1A) subfamily of genes encode enzymes that function at the apex of the retinoic acid (RA) signalling pathway. We detected aberrant expression of ALDH1A genes, particularly ALDH1A2, in a majority (72%) of primary paediatric T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) specimens. ALDH1A expression was almost exclusive to T-lineage, but not B-lineage, ALL.