| abstract |
The present invention relates to a nucleic acid molecule encoding a peptide capable of being internalized into a cell, wherein said nucleic acid molecule consists of (a) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a peptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; (b) a nucleic acid molecule having the DNA sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein T is U if the nucleic acid molecule is RNA; or (d) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a peptide having at least 80% sequence identity with that of SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein at least at two positions selected from the group consisting of positions 1, 7 and 8 of SEQ ID NO: 2 a cysteine is present and wherein at least at four positions selected from the groups consisting of position 2, 4, 6, 9 or 10 of SEQ ID NO: 2 an arginine or a lysine is present. The present invention also relates to a peptide encoded by the nucleic acid of the invention, a fusion molecule comprising the peptide of the invention and a composition comprising the peptide or the fusion molecule of the invention. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method of detecting the internalization behaviour of a fusion molecule of the invention, the composition of the invention for treating and/or preventing a condition selected from cancer, enzyme deficiency diseases, infarcts, cerebral ischemia, diabetes, inflammatory diseases, infections such as bacterial, viral or fungal infections, autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematodes (SLE) or rheumatoid arthritis, diseases with amyloid-like fibrils such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) or certain forms of myopathy. |