1-Pyrene Carboxylic Acid: An Internalization Enhancer for Short Oligoarginines
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Getting through the cell membrane is challenging, and transporting a therapeutic agent while entering the cell is even more complicated. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are valuable tools for solving this problem, although they have drawbacks. In this work, the synthesis and investigation of efficient CPPs are described. We used an aromatic group, 1-pyrene carboxylic acid (PCA), to enhance internalization. We designed oligoarginines to investigate the effect of PCA in different positions at the N-terminus or in the side chain. Our novel peptide derivatives showed remarkable internalization on tumor cell lines, and more than one endocytic pathway plays a role in their internalization mechanism. With this modification, there is an opportunity to design short oligoarginines that can rival well-known CPPs like octaarginine in internalization.
DOI: 10.3390/ijms26052202
Institutions: Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Hungarian Research Network, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, École Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg, Biotechnologie et Signalisation Cellulaire, Université de Strasbourg, Semmelweis University
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,499
OpenAlex ID: W4408053354