The membrane peptide pH (low) insertion peptide (pHLIP) lives in three worlds, being soluble in aqueous solution at pH 7.4, binding to the surface of lipid bilayers, and inserting as a transbilayer helix at low pH. With low pH driving the process, pHLIP can translocate cargo molecules attached to its C-terminus via a disulfide and release them in the cytoplasm of a cell. Here we examine a key aspect of the mechanism, showing that pHLIP is monomeric in each of its three major states: soluble in water near neutral pH (state I), bound to the surface of a membrane near neutral pH (state II), and inserted across the membrane as an alpha-helix at low pH (state III). The peptide does not induce fusion or membrane leakage. The unique properties of pHLIP made it attractive for the biophysical investigation of membrane protein folding in vitro and for the development of a novel class of delivery peptides for the transport of therapeutic and diagnostic agents to acidic tissue sites associated with various pathological processes in vivo.

The pH-selective insertion and folding of a membrane peptide, pHLIP [pH (low) insertion peptide], can be used to target acidic tissue in vivo, including acidic foci in tumors, kidneys, and inflammatory sites. In a mouse breast adenocarcinoma model, fluorescently labeled pHLIP finds solid acidic tumors with high accuracy and accumulates in them even at a very early stage of tumor development. The fluorescence signal is stable for >4 days and is approximately five times higher in tumors than in healthy counterpart tissue. In a rat antigen-induced arthritis model, pHLIP preferentially accumulates in inflammatory foci. pHLIP also maps the renal cortical interstitium; however, kidney accumulation can be reduced significantly by providing mice with bicarbonatecontaining drinking water. The peptide has three states: soluble in water, bound to the surface of a membrane, and inserted across the membrane as an ␣-helix. At physiological pH, the equilibrium is toward water, which explains its low affinity for cells in healthy tissue; at acidic pH, titration of Asp residues shifts the equilibrium toward membrane insertion and tissue accumulation. The replacement of two key Asp residues located in the transmembrane part of pHLIP by Lys or Asn led to the loss of pH-sensitive insertion into membranes of liposomes, red blood cells, and cancer cells in vivo, as well as to the loss of specific accumulation in tumors. pHLIP nanotechnology introduces a new method of detecting, targeting, and possibly treating acidic diseased tissue by using the selective insertion and folding of membrane peptides.cancer targeting ͉ imaging ͉ peptide insertion M any pathological conditions such as cancer, ischemic stroke, inflammation, atherosclerotic plaques, and others are associated with increased metabolic activity and hypoxia resulting in an elevated extracellular acidity (1-6). Hypoxia and acidity have emerged as important factors in tumor biology and responses to cancer treatment. Imaging of hypoxic and acidic regions could provide new information about disease localization and progression and might enhance diagnosis and therapy. Here we describe the use of a peptide, pHLIP [pH (low) insertion peptide], to selectively accumulate in and label acidic tissues. We previously reported that the pHLIP bionanosyringe, a 36-aa peptide derived from the bacteriorhodopsin C helix, has three states: soluble in water, bound to the surface of a membrane, and inserted across the membrane as an ␣-helix. At physiological pH the water-soluble form is favored, whereas at acidic pH the transmembrane ␣-helix predominates (Fig. 1a) (7). We show that at low pH, pHLIP can translocate cell-impermeable cargo molecules that are disulfide-linked to the C terminus across a cell membrane, where they are released in the cytoplasm by reduction of the disulfide bond (8, 9). Among the successfully translocated molecules are organic dyes, phalloidin (a polar, cyclic peptide), and a 12-mer peptide nucleic acid.

The pH low-insertion peptide (pHLIP) serves as a model system for peptide insertion and folding across a lipid bilayer. It has three general states: (I) soluble in water or (II) bound to the surface of a lipid bilayer as an unstructured monomer, and (III) inserted across the bilayer as a monomeric ␣-helix. We used fluorescence spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry to study the interactions of pHLIP with a palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) lipid bilayer and to calculate the transition energies between states. We found that the Gibbs free energy of binding to a POPC surface at low pHLIP concentration (state I-state II transition) at 37°C is approximately ؊7 kcal/mol near neutral pH and that the free energy of insertion and folding across a lipid bilayer at low pH (state II-state III transition) is nearly ؊2 kcal/mol. We discuss a number of related thermodynamic parameters from our measurements. Besides its fundamental interest as a model system for the study of membrane protein folding, pHLIP has utility as an agent to target diseased tissues and translocate molecules through the membrane into the cytoplasm of cells in environments with elevated levels of extracellular acidity, as in cancer and inflammation. The results give the amount of energy that might be used to move cargo molecules across a membrane.thermodynamics ͉ drug delivery ͉ imaging ͉ membrane protein T he folding of helical membrane proteins can be conceptualized in terms of distinct steps: (i) peptide insertion and folding to form independently stable helices across a lipid bilayer, (ii) helix association to form a helix bundle intermediate, and (iii) further rearrangements of protein structure and/or binding of prosthetic groups to achieve a functional state (1). Insertion of most membrane proteins is facilitated in vivo by complex molecular machines, such as the translocon, which assist in placing hydrophobic sequences across the bilayer (2). In contrast to more hydrophobic sequences, moderately polar transmembrane domains of Cterminally-anchored proteins can postranslationally translocate themselves into membranes in a translocon-defective yeast strain (3, 4), seeking the free-energy minimum (5). Thus, insertion of a disordered peptide in aqueous solution to form a transbilayer ␣-helix is accompanied by a release of energy, so thermodynamic studies of the interaction of proteins and peptides with a lipid bilayer can provide insights regarding folding. However, such studies are significantly complicated by the poor solubility of membrane peptides, which has made it difficult to separate the contributions of peptide interactions with a lipid bilayer from self-interactions and aggregation.We have been studying a useful system for measurement of the thermodynamics and kinetics of peptide insertion and folding across a lipid bilayer. It is based on the pH low-insertion peptide (pHLIP), which has three major states: (I) soluble in water in an unstructured, monomeric state, (II) bound to the surface of a lipid bilayer in an unstructu...

Andreev, O. A., Segala, M., Markin, V. S., & Engelman, D. M. (2008).Energetics of peptide (pHLIP) binding to and folding across a lipid bilayer membrane.

Gramicidin is a pore-forming peptide which exhibits lethal properties against a large spectrum of cells. It forms monovalent cation-specific channel in the lipid bilayer of a cellular membrane with limited permeability to anions or polyvalent cations. Both ions and water move through the pore which is formed by the peptide backbone. We detected formation of pores induced by the dimerization of gramicidin molecules by monitoring changes in the membrane and action potentials of neurons in the central nervous system of Lymnaea stagnalis. This methodology could be used for the study of peptide interactions with neuronal cellular membranes.