Toxin bioportides: exploring toxin biological activity and multifunctionality

Autor(es)

Kerkis, Irina ; de Brando Prieto da Silva, Alvaro Rossan ; Pompeia, Celine ; Tytgat, Jan ; de Sa Junior, Paulo L.

• Tipo de documento: Artigo de Revisão
• Fonte: CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES; v. 74, n. 4, p. 647-661, FEB 2017.
• Citações Web of Science: 4

Resumo

Toxins have been shown to have many biological functions and to constitute a rich source of drugs and biotechnological tools. We focus on toxins that not only have a specific activity, but also contain residues responsible for transmembrane penetration, which can be considered bioportides-a class of cell-penetrating peptides that are also intrinsically bioactive. Bioportides are potential tools in pharmacology and biotechnology as they help deliver substances and nanoparticles to intracellular targets. Bioportides characterized so far are peptides derived from human proteins, such as cytochrome c (CYCS), calcitonin receptor (camptide), and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (nosangiotide). However, toxins are usually disregarded as potential bioportides. In this review, we discuss the inclusion of some toxins and molecules derived thereof as a new class of bioportides based on structure activity relationship, minimization, and biological activity studies. The comparative analysis of the amino acid residue composition of toxin-derived bioportides and their short molecular variants is an innovative analytical strategy which allows us to understand natural toxin multifunctionality in vivo and plan novel pharmacological and biotechnological products. Furthermore, we discuss how many bioportide toxins have a rigid structure with amphiphilic properties important for both cell penetration and bioactivity. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 15/50040-4 - Rational approach for searching molecular targets involved in inflammatory events and cell survival
• Beneficiário: Ana Marisa Chudzinski-Tavassi
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa Centros de Pesquisa em Engenharia