Search for Cardiomyocyte-Specific Targeting Sequences and Their Application in the Treatment of Myocardial Infarction

To find cardiomyocyte-specific targeting sequences, transform existing cardiac targeting peptides (CTPs) to the gene level, use this as a basis to improve cardiomyocyte-specific delivery systems, and explore new promising directions for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI). Based on the CTP selected by the literature, pEGFP-C1 was used as the skeleton to construct a secretory protein expression vector. After the positive clone was identified correctly, the recombinant plasmid was transfected into rat umbilical vein endothelial cells (RUVECs) to express and secrete fusion proteins, and their targeting efficiency was evaluated with rat cardiomyocytes. Compared with the control group, the recombinant plasmid can normally express and secrete fusion proteins in RUVECs. The secretory proteins show strong and dense fluorescence signals in rat cardiomyocytes, and the targeting efficiency increases with time, indicating that the secretory proteins mediated by WLSEAGPVVTVRALRGTG can specifically bind to cardiomyocytes, verifying its efficient targeting and low off-target effect. This study confirmed the effectiveness of WLSEAGPVVTVRALRGTG as a CTP. The secretory proteins mediated by it have efficient and specific cardiomyocyte targeting capabilities, providing an experimental basis for the development of drug delivery systems in the treatment of MI.