Abstract

Absence of safe and efficient methods of nucleic acids delivery is one of the major issues which limits the development of human gene therapy. Highly efficient viral vectors raise questions due to safety reasons. Among non-viral vectors peptide-based carriers can be considered as good candidates for the development of “artificial viruses” - multifunctional polyplexes that mimic viruses. Suggested strategy to obtain multifunctionality is to combine several peptide modules into one modular carrier. Different kinds of peptide modules are needed for successful overcoming barriers of nucleic acids transport into the cells. Design of such modules and establishment of structure-function relationships are issues of importance to researchers working in the field of nucleic acids delivery.

Keywords: Cell-penetrating peptides, Cross-linking peptides, DNA-condensing peptides, Dynein-binding peptides, Endosomolytic peptides, Non-viral nucleic acids delivery, Nuclear localization signals, Receptor-mediated delivery.

Graphical Abstract