H.Michael Ellerby, Sannamu Lee, Lisa M. Ellerby, Sylvia Chen, Taira Kiyota, Gabriel del Rio, Gohsuke Sugihara, Yan Sun, Dale E. Bredesen, Wadih Arap, Renata Pasqualini

Protein engineering is an emerging area that has expanded our understanding of protein folding and laid the groundwork for the creation of unprecedented structures with unique functions. We previously designed the first native-like pore-forming protein, small globular protein (SGP). We show here that this artificially engineered protein has membrane-disrupting properties and anti-tumor activity in several cancer animal models. We propose and validate a mechanism for the selectivity of SGP toward cell membranes in tumors. SGP is the prototype for a new class of artificial proteins designed for therapeutic applications.