Exploring Membrane-tethering Technology for Proteins as a Versatile Tool for Uncovering Novel Disease Targets and Advancing Biotherapeutic Development

Membrane-tethering technology for proteins (MTFP) is a promising approach for the development of therapeutic agents that display bioactive proteins, such as antibodies and cytokines, on the cell surface, resulting in the induction of autocrine signalling. In this review article, we provide a comprehensive overview of the MTFP, including its basic principles, selection of agonist antibodies and peptides, and the identification of novel functions of natural cytokines. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of increasing the therapeutic efficacy of existing treatments by engineering active proteins to the cell and extracellular vesicle surfaces. We suggest that the MTFP has the potential to maximize efficiency in drug discovery by identifying proteins with regulatory functions and engineering existing treatments. Our review highlights the importance of MTFP in basic research and translational research, and its potential to apply the development of biotherapeutics.