The Queen's University of Belfast

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Helen McCarthy

Tracy Robson

Aleksey Zholobenko

Ashley Davison

Marie Eugenie Migaud

Rachel Bennett

Anita Yakkundi

Emma Mcerlean

Eoghan Mulholland

Amy Short

David Grieve

Adrien Kissenpfennig

Nicholas Dunne

Grace Cole

Provided is a peptide including X-(Xaa1)a-(Xaa2)b-Y-(Xaa3)c-(Xaa4)d-Z, or a salt or amide thereof, in which each of X and Z is independently selected from Asn, Cys, Gln, Gly, Ser, Thr and Tyr; in which one of Xaa1 and Xaa2 is His and the other of Xaa1 and Xaa2 is Arg; in which one of Xaa3 and Xaa4 is His and the other of Xaa3 and Xaa4 is Arg; in which the amino functional group of X is, optionally, acylated; in which the carboxylate functional group of Z is, optionally, amidated; in which Y is selected from Ala and Trp; in which each of a and d is independently an integer from 2 to 4; and each of b and c is independently an integer from 2 to 4. The peptide may be used in therapeutic approaches.

Peptide for the delivery of anionic materials

The inventors have determined that increasing the expression level or activity of FKBP-L polypeptide in a subject, which can be provided by expression of nucleic acids encoding FKBP-L or by providing FKBP-L polypeptides to a subject is advantageous for use in the treatment of obesity and obesity-related disorders. In particular increased expression or activity of FKBP-L polypeptide in a subject may be used to treat excessive weight gain (which can be characterised as obesity), glucose intolerance, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which are closely linked to obesity and insulin resistance. FKBP-L can also be used as a biomarker for obesity and obesity-related disorders.

Use of FKBP-L polypeptides and nucleic acids for the treatment of obesity

The present invention is directed to an amphipathic peptide and methods of using the amphipathic peptide for delivering small molecule agents to a cell. Ideally, the amphipathic cell penetrating peptide comprises less than approximately 50 amino acid residues with at least 6 arginine residues, at least 12 Alanine Residues, at least 6 leucine residues, optionally at least one cysteine residue, and at least two but no greater than three glutamic acids wherein the arginine residues are evenly distributed along the length of the peptide; and the peptide has a defined ratio of arginine to negatively charged amino acid residues and a defined ratio of hydrophilic amino acid residues to hydrophobic amino acid residues. The present invention is also directed to a nanoparticle and cell delivery system comprising the amphipathic cell penetrating peptide of the invention. The peptide, nanoparticle or cell delivery system of the invention may be used in therapy. For example, the peptide may be used as a therapeutic agent delivery system, in which the therapeutic agent may include nucleic acids or other small molecules.

Amphipathic peptide

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Belfast Antrim, United Kingdom

Helen McCarthy