Simple branched arginine-based structures can enhance the cellular uptake of peptide cargos

Abstract

In an attempt to design delivery vehicles to enable epitope-based vaccine uptake, we investigated the properties of a variety of synthetic, branched cationic structures. We found that branched compounds based on arginine or lysine were able to facilitate internalization of peptide cargo into cells to different degrees. Branched constructs containing only two arginine residues (R2) were not only able to bind to cells more efficiently than constructs with two lysine residues (K2) but were also internalized within vesicle like compartments in the cell. The extent of binding and uptake was enhanced when additional arginine residues were incorporated to form a tetra arginine construct (R4). An in..