A potential delivery system based on cholera toxin: A macromolecule carrier with multiple activities

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Pharmacology
• Immunology

Background:

• Macromolecular drugs face delivery challenges, including loading efficiency, cellular uptake, and stability.
• Cholera toxin (CT) is explored as a delivery system due to its ability to bind intestinal cells.
• CT also functions as a vaccine adjuvant-delivery system (VADS), inducing specific immunity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the preparation, advantages, applications, and limitations of CT-based drug delivery systems.
• To highlight the potential of CT in delivering macromolecular cargos like proteins, peptides, and antigens.
• To discuss the development of CT-based proteins with reduced toxicity and preserved/enhanced adjuvant activity.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of studies on cholera toxin and its derivatives for drug delivery.
• Analysis of CT's mechanism of action, including B subunit binding to GM1 gangliosides.
• Evaluation of CT-based proteins for their efficacy as drug carriers and adjuvants.

Main Results:

• CT facilitates macromolecular drug delivery by targeting intestinal cells and has applications in mucosal and neural delivery.
• CT-based vaccine adjuvant-delivery systems (VADS) can induce specific immunity.
• Modified CT proteins demonstrate reduced toxicity while maintaining or enhancing adjuvant properties.

Conclusions:

• CT-based drug delivery systems show superiority in delivering macromolecular cargos.
• Further research into CT-based proteins is crucial for overcoming toxicity issues and optimizing therapeutic applications.
• These systems offer dual benefits by retaining drug activity and potentially introducing new bioactivity.