Homodimeric SV40 NLS peptide formed by disulfide bond as enhancer for gene delivery.

Recently, cysteine residue incorporation increased liposome-mediated transfection compared to unmodified peptide. Therefore, we designed novel modified SV40 NLS peptides, homodimeric (NLS-CTHD, NLS-NTHD) and closed structure (cyclic NLS), simply using disulfide bond between cysteines to develop more efficient and safe non-viral gene delivery system. The simple mix of NLS-CTHD among these novel transfection enhancing peptides with DNA increased the gene transfer potency of cationic liposomes more efficiently with no additional cytotoxicity.