University System of Maryland

Kevin Gray

Jing Chen

Silvia Muro

Melani Solomon

Proteins, nucleic acids encoding the proteins, compositions comprising the proteins, and methods are provided. The proteins have the ability to be self-targeted to ICAM-1 and, if desired, enzymatically-released at acidic pH. The ICAM-1-targeting peptides are provided as single copies or multiples repeats, and can be separated by linkers from the enzyme segment, from which the ICAM-1 targeting peptides can be released, if desired, at acidic pH. These fusion proteins enhance the activity of the enzyme segment within or liberated from the fusion protein, and provide increased recognition and targeting of diseased organs, transport from the bloodstream across the endothelium into said diseased organ, and intracellular uptake and lysosomal trafficking by cells in them, both in peripheral tissues and the central nervous system. Representative nucleotide and amino acid sequences of these fusion proteins, as well as in vitro, cellular, and in vivo animal data are provided. The described proteins can be used as a protein therapy, a gene therapy, or an implanted cell therapy.

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Washington, DC, United States of America

Kevin Gray