Cell-penetrating peptides for treatment of cancer

This research networking center gathers some of the main Spanish research groups in biomedicine, located in more than 100 institutions as universities, hospitals and technological centers distributed around the country. The cell plasma membrane represents an efficient barrier that prevents most molecules from cellular uptake, which also hampers the targeted delivery of molecules, such as therapeutic substances. Only a small range of molecules having a particular molecular weight, polarity and/or net charge are able to passively diffuse through cell membranes. All other molecules have to be actively transported, e.g., by receptor-mediated endocytosis or via ATP-binding transporter molecules. Several strategies have been developed to deliver molecules by artificially forcing them to pass the cell membrane, for example by means of electroporation, micro-injection, and viral delivery. However, these methods have various drawbacks, including low efficiency, high toxicity, poor bioavailability, and low specificity, which have prevented them from becoming an efficient tool for the delivery of drugs or other therapeutically active agents to cells. One of the most promising alternatives for delivering cargos into cells are cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), which are peptides that are able to cross cell membranes and facilitate the cellular uptake of the molecular cargo they are attached to. Despite several decades of investigation, the fundamental basis for CPPs activity remains elusive. Consequently, CPPs developed so far do not usually achieve a high efficiency in cargo delivery and are frequently cytotoxic for cells. Therefore, in spite of the efforts made so far, there is still a need for improved CPPs with high delivery efficiency and low toxicity. The present invention relates to the development of innovative cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) to deliver cargos inside cells with very high efficiency and without noticeable toxicity. The new CPPs can be used for the development of new therapies against cancer. The center is looking for industrial partners of bio and pharma sectors to enter into preclinical or clinical proof of concept under license, research cooperation, or joint venture agreements.