A novel peptide, PLAEIDGIELTY, for the targeting of alpha9beta1-integrins

Targeting gene therapy vectors to abundant receptors on airway epithelia may allow a significant enhancement of gene delivery and thereby be of particular importance for the gene therapy of cystic fibrosis. Alpha9beta1-integrins are highly expressed throughout the human airway epithelia in vivo, irrespective of any particular clinical status. Aiming to improve the targeting of our non-viral integrin-mediated gene transfer systems to airway epithelia, we searched for a short tenascin C-derived peptide which would bind to these integrins. By utilizing recombinant bacteriophages that display overlapping regions of the third fibronectin type III repeat of tenascin C (TNfn3), we were able to localize its alpha9beta1-integrin binding site to the B-C loop of TNfn3. A synthetic Pro-Leu-Ala-Glu-Ile-Asp-Gly-Ile-Glu-Leu-Thr-Tyr peptide (PLAEIDGIELTY) was shown to displace alpha9beta1-integrin-expressing cells completely from binding to TNfn3. This peptide, therefore, may prove useful both for the examination of the functional importance of alpha9beta1-integrins in vivo and the development of gene therapy vectors or drugs targeting these integrins.