Lipid Core Peptide System for Gene, Drug, and Vaccine Delivery

Wei Zhong; Mariusz Skwarczynski; Istvan Toth

doi:10.1071/CH09149

RESEARCH FRONT

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Lipid Core Peptide System for Gene, Drug, and Vaccine Delivery

Wei Zhong ^A , Mariusz Skwarczynski ^A and Istvan Toth ^A ^B

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A The University of Queensland, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, St. Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.

^B Corresponding author. Email: i.toth@uq.edu.au

Wei Zhong received a M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from Jinan University and a M.Sc. in Biotechnology from the University of Queensland. She is completing her Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Istvan Toth, where she is investigating the design of vaccines and utilizing peptide and carbohydrate chemistry for vaccine synthesis. Her research interests focus on drug and vaccine delivery and bioengineering.

Mariusz Skwarczynski completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1999 at Wroclaw University of Technology. His postdoctoral training began at Tokushima Bunri University under the direction of Professor M. Nishizawa, where he studied the biomimetic total synthesis of paclitaxel. He then joined the laboratory of Professor Y. Kiso at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University to study prodrugs of paclitaxel. He has recently joined the laboratory of Professor Istvan Toth at the University of Queensland. His research interest focuses on drug delivery systems, especially of anticancer agents and vaccines.

Professor Istvan Toth is a chemical engineer specialized in medicinal chemistry. His Ph.D. and postdoctoral research was focused on organic synthesis; mainly on reserpine alkaloids and terpenes. Professor Toth then changed his research directions towards peptide and carbohydrate chemistry and nowadays he is an internationally recognized expert in drug delivery and was awarded a D.Sc. in 1994 for his work in this area. Professor Toth is one of the key founders of Alchemia (ASX listed), Implicit Bioscience Pty Ltd, Neurotide Pty Ltd, and TetraQ. Professor Toth has been elected as a Fellow of the RACI and is the Editor-in-Chief of Current Drug Delivery, Associate Editor of Medicinal Chemistry, and Board Member of Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry, Open Drug Delivery, Open Medicinal Chemistry, and Current Patents in Drug Delivery.

Australian Journal of Chemistry 62(9) 956-967 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH09149
Submitted: 13 March 2009 Accepted: 22 May 2009 Published: 17 September 2009

Abstract

A vast number of biologically active compounds await efficient delivery to become therapeutic agents. Lipidation has been demonstrated to be a convenient and useful approach to improve the stability and transport across biological membranes of potential drug molecules. The lipid core peptide (LCP) system has emerged as a promising lipidation tool because of its versatile features. This review discusses the progress in the development of the LCP system to improve cell permeability of nucleotides, physicochemical properties of potential drugs, and vaccine immunogenicity. Emphasis was put on the application of the LCP system to deliver antigens for the prevention of group A streptococcus infection, novel techniques of conjugation of target molecules to the LCP, and new alterations of the LCP system itself.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia and the Australian National Heart Foundation (NHF).

References

Lipid Core Peptide System for Gene, Drug, and Vaccine Delivery

Abstract

Acknowledgements

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