Enhanced cellular and transdermal delivery of the modified chromatin using gH625 cell-penetrating peptide

The transdermal drug delivery system has been used as a noninvasive route for drug administration, but often requires specialized equipment or invasive treatment. To examine recombinant synthetic chromatin as a non-invasive transdermal delivery vehicle, a modified histone H2A fused with a cell-penetrating peptide (gH625) was examined for its utility. Both in vitro porcine skin-based test and in vivo mice studies showed significantly enhanced passive skin penetration of gH625-modified chromatin compared to control groups. The gH625-H2A chromatin was examined as a delivery vehicle of EGF by displaying it at the carboxy terminus of histone H2B to enhance stability and skin penetration. The experimental results showed that the biological activities of EGF-displayed chromatin are comparable to those of the isolated EGF peptide in the HaCa-T cell line. The enhanced skin penetration capabilities of the gH625-H2A-modified chromatin offer great potential for developing non-invasive transdermal delivery of therapeutic proteins or peptides.