Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2025
10:01
Directed Assembly of Elastin-like Proteins into defined Supramolecular Structures and Cargo Encapsulation In Vitro
Published on: April 8, 2020
5.9K
Enhancing extracellular vesicle cargo loading and functional delivery by engineering protein-lipid interactions
Justin A Peruzzi1,2, Taylor F Gunnels2,3, Hailey I Edelstein1,2
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
Nature Communications
|July 4, 2024
Summary
Researchers enhanced protein loading into extracellular vesicles (EVs) by designing proteins to associate with cell membranes. This method improves EV-based drug delivery and gene modulation in target cells.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Molecular Biology
- Drug Delivery Systems
Background:
- Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are natural nanoparticles with therapeutic delivery potential.
- Efficiently loading therapeutic proteins into EVs remains a significant challenge for clinical applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a method for enhancing protein cargo loading into extracellular vesicles (EVs).
- To demonstrate the functional delivery of engineered proteins via EVs for gene modulation.
Main Methods:
- Proteins were engineered to target the plasma membrane and associate with lipid rafts.
- Lipid tags were utilized to mediate increased EV loading.
- Functional delivery of an engineered transcription factor was assessed in target cells.
Main Results:
- Engineered proteins showed enhanced loading into EVs.
- Lipid tags effectively increased EV loading efficiency.
- Delivered transcription factor successfully modulated gene expression in target cells.
Conclusions:
- Rational protein design and lipid tagging enhance cargo loading into EVs.
- This technology offers a promising strategy for developing novel EV-based therapeutics.
- EVs can be engineered for effective delivery of functional macromolecular cargo.
Related Concept Videos
01:39Receptor-mediated Endocytosis
104.3K
Overview
104.3K
00:59COP Coated Vesicles
7.8K
Membrane-enclosed structures called vesicles transport proteins and lipids across the cell. The vesicles derive their cargo from the plasma membrane, Golgi, ER, or endosome. Coated vesicles are spherical, protein-coated carriers with a 50–100 nm diameter that mediate bidirectional transport between the ER and the Golgi. The distribution of proteins between the ER and Golgi complex is dynamic and is maintained by different coated vesicles. Their formation is driven by the assembly of...
7.8K
01:12Clathrin Coated Vesicles
6.9K
Clathrin-coated vesicles use endocytosis to transport receptors and lysosomal hydrolases from the Golgi to the lysosome in the late secretory pathway. Clathrin-mediated endocytosis was the first described endocytic process, and Clathrin-coated vesicles remain one of the most well-studied transport vesicles. The molecular machinery that generates clathrin-coated vesicles comprises over 50 proteins that precisely coordinate vesicle formation. Cell surface receptors concentrated in indented sites...
6.9K
01:45Regulation of Nuclear Protein Sorting
2.4K
Nuclear protein sorting regulates nucleus composition and gene expression, crucial for determining the fate of a eukaryotic cell. Hence, the entry and exit of molecules across the nuclear envelope is a tightly controlled process. Nuclear protein sorting can be inhibited by one of the following ways: 1) masking cargo signal sequences, 2) modifying the nuclear receptor's affinity for cargo, 3) controlling the nuclear pore size, 4) retaining the cargo during its transit to the cytosol or the...
2.4K
01:44Introduction to Membrane Traffic
7.0K
The ER, Golgi apparatus, endosomes, and lysosomes work in tandem to modify, sort, and package proteins and lipids. An integrated membrane trafficking network facilitates the back and forth shuttling of molecules within different organelles in the same cell or across the cell membrane.
The transport of soluble and membrane proteins is mediated by transport vesicles that collect cargo from one cellular compartment and deliver it to another by fusing with the target organelle membrane. The Rab...
The transport of soluble and membrane proteins is mediated by transport vesicles that collect cargo from one cellular compartment and deliver it to another by fusing with the target organelle membrane. The Rab...
7.0K
01:43SNAREs and Membrane Fusion
10.9K
Once a transport vesicle has recognized its target organelle, the vesicular membrane needs to fuse with the target membrane to unload the cargo. Transmembrane proteins called SNAREs present on organelle membranes and their vesicles, mediate vesicle fusion.
SNAREs exist in pairs that symmetrically interact and catalyze the fusion of the lipid bilayers in vesicle and target organelle. v-SNARE in the vesicle membrane are single polypeptide chains that bind to a complementary t-SNARE, composed of 2...
SNAREs exist in pairs that symmetrically interact and catalyze the fusion of the lipid bilayers in vesicle and target organelle. v-SNARE in the vesicle membrane are single polypeptide chains that bind to a complementary t-SNARE, composed of 2...
10.9K