Anthrax Toxin: A Pioneer of Targeted Protein Toxins

With anthrax toxin as a pioneer, several bacterial toxins have been engineered to deliver proteins of interest into the cytosol of specific mammalian cells. Such targeted protein toxins combine the ability to deliver cargo molecules into cells with designed receptor interaction for targeting selected cells. This review summarizes the actual knowledge of modified anthrax toxin. Moreover, the significant efforts which have been made to utilize other bacterial toxins are discussed. The targeted protein toxins described in this review include single-chain toxins, pore-forming toxins, and injection machineries.