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The inventors have identified a novel cell-penetrating sequence, termed hAP10, from the C-terminus of the human protein Acinus. hAP10 was able to efficiently enter various normal and cancerous cells, likely through an endocytosis pathway, and to deliver an EGFP cargo to the cell interior. Cell penetration of a peptide, hAP10DR, derived from hAP10 by mutation of an aspartic acid residue to an arginine was dramatically increased. Interestingly, a peptide containing a portion of the heptad leucine repeat region domain of the survival protein AAC-11 (residues 377-399) fused to either hAP10 or hAP10DR was able to induce tumor cells death in vitro and to inhibit tumor growth in vivo in a sub-cutaneous xenograft mouse model for the Sézary syndrome. Combined, the results indicate that hAP10 and hAP10DR may represent promising vehicles for in vitro or in vivo delivery of bioactive cargos, with potential use in …