Cell penetrating peptides: A concise review with emphasis on biomedical applications

INTRODUCTION: The biological membranes as natural permeable barriers are required for survival and function of living cells. However, these natural barriers could be a major obstacle for the efficient intracellular delivery of therapeutic agents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In recent two decades, the use of peptides as novel carriers for intracellular cargo delivery has been received more attention by introducing the cell penetrating peptides (CPPs). CPPs, protein transduction domains, are an attractive class of short peptide sequences which can translocate across the cell membrane. CONCLUSION: Owing to the ability of CPPs to transport across cellular membrane, they can employ as an appropriate carrier for various cargos include nucleic acid, proteins, SiRNA, therapeutic agents, nanoparticles and so on. In this review, we describe the classifications of CPPs, their uptake mechanisms as well as biomedical applications of the CPPs.