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Updated: Aug 27, 2025

Construction of Cyclic Cell-Penetrating Peptides for Enhanced Penetration of Biological Barriers
Published on: September 19, 2022
Cell-Penetrating Peptides as Passive Permeation Enhancers for Transdermal Drug Delivery
Lipika Chablani1, Vijay Singh2
1Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wegmans School of Pharmacy, St. John Fisher University, 3690 East Ave, Rochester, New York, 14618, USA. lchablani@sjf.edu.
Abstract:
Cell-penetrating peptides have been widely used as a tool to gain access to cytosol for numerous applications. The review highlights the advances made in preclinical and clinical research using cell-penetrating peptides since their discovery in 1980s. Further, the emphasis is on summarizing the role of cell-penetrating peptides as permeation enhancers for transdermal and topical drug delivery applications. A summary table of preclinical studies utilizing various peptides in combination with different active ingredients and drug delivery systems is included. Lastly, we capture the challenges associated with the cell-penetrating peptides to translate the preclinical work to clinical applications.
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