Engineered toxins: New therapeutics

Clostridial neurotoxins possess discrete structural domains with distinct pharmacological properties. Aspects of neurotoxin function with therapeutic potential include specific neuronal binding, intracellular (cytosolic) delivery of biologically active protein and inhibition of SNARE-mediated secretion. Understanding the structure function relationship of the neurotoxin protein enables the creation of recombinant proteins incorporating select domains of the neurotoxins to produce novel proteins with therapeutic potential in a range of clinical applications. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.