Protein delivery with transportans is mediated by caveolae rather than flotillin-dependent pathways

Bioconjug Chem. 2009 May 20;20(5):877-87. doi: 10.1021/bc800416f.

Abstract

Delivery of large bioactive cargoes into cells with the help of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) is mostly based on endocytic processes. Here we map the cellular pathways used by transportan and transportan 10 (TP10) for protein transduction in HeLa cells. CPP-mediated cellular delivery is often suggested to be lipid-raft-dependent; therefore, we used flotillin-1, caveolin, Rab5, and PI3P as markers to elucidate the involvement of these particular endosomal pathways in the protein uptake process. Confocal laser scanning and electron microscopy reveal only a negligible overlap of avidin/neutravidin conveyed into cells by transportans with the raft marker flotillin-1 or early endosomal markers Rab5 and PI3P. However, about 20% of protein-CPP complexes colocalize with the caveolar/caveosomal marker caveolin, and down-regulation of caveolin-1 by siRNA treatment leads to the inhibition of the CPP-mediated protein uptake by 30-50%. On the contrary, the lack of flotillin-1 increases rather than decreases the CPP-mediated protein transport. The participation of the caveolin-1-dependent pathway in CPP-mediated protein delivery was also corroborated by using caveolin-1 knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • 3T3 Cells
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Caveolae / metabolism*
  • Caveolin 1 / deficiency
  • Caveolin 1 / genetics
  • Cholesterol / metabolism
  • Down-Regulation
  • Endosomes / metabolism
  • Galanin / chemistry
  • Galanin / metabolism*
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Membrane Microdomains / metabolism
  • Membrane Proteins / deficiency
  • Membrane Proteins / genetics
  • Membrane Proteins / metabolism*
  • Mice
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates / metabolism
  • Protein Transport
  • RNA, Small Interfering / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism*
  • Wasp Venoms / chemistry
  • Wasp Venoms / metabolism*
  • rab5 GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Caveolin 1
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates
  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Wasp Venoms
  • flotillins
  • phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate
  • transportan
  • Galanin
  • Cholesterol
  • rab5 GTP-Binding Proteins