TAT fused to HA2: The recent breakthrough of using recombinant Yamanaka factors in generating iPS cells opens the door to a safe clinical application of the technology. However, the technique currently suffers from a low efficiency. This low efficiency is largely due to the entrapment of the proteins in endosomes. One solution to this problem is the use of “endosome escaping” cell penetrating peptides (references). StemRD now offers a number of these peptides that may help improve iPS efficiency.
References: El-Sayed A, Futaki S, Harashima H.: Delivery of macromolecules using arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides: ways to overcome endosomal entrapment. AAPS J. 2009; 11:13
Sugita T, et al.: Improved cytosolic translocation and tumor-killing activity of Tat-shepherdin conjugates mediated by co-treatment with Tat-fused endosome-disruptive HA2 peptide. BBRC, 2007;363:1027
Wadia JS, Stan RV, Dowdy SF.: Transducible TAT-HA fusogenic peptide enhances escape of TAT-fusion proteins after lipid raft macropinocytosis. Nature Medicine. 2004; 10:310