Mutant membrane proteins are frequently retained in the early secretory pathway by a quality control system, thereby causing disease. An example are mutants of the vasopressin V 2 receptor (V 2 R) leading to nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. Transport-defective V 2 Rs fall into two classes: those retained exclusively in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and those reaching post-ER compartments such as the ER/Golgi intermediate compartment. Although numerous chemical or pharmacological chaperones that rescue the transport of ER-retained membrane proteins are known, substances acting specifically in post-ER compartments have not been described as yet. Using the L62P (ER-retained) and Y205C (reaching post-ER compartments) mutants of the V 2 R as a model, we show here that the cell-penetrating peptide penetratin and its synthetic analog KLAL rescue the transport of the Y205C mutant. In contrast, the location of the L62P mutant is not influenced by either peptide because the peptides are unable to enter the ER. We also show data indicating that the peptide-mediated transport rescue is associated with an increase in cytosolic Ca 2؉ concentrations. Thus, we describe a new class of substances influencing protein transport specifically in post-ER compartments.The hormone 8-arginine vasopressin (AVP 2 ; antidiuretic hormone) mediates water reabsorption in the kidney via the G protein-coupled human vasopressin V 2 receptor (V 2 R) located at the cell surface (1, 2). Mutations in the V 2 R gene cause X-linked nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI), a disease characterized by the kidney's inability to concentrate urine. The majority of the mutations result in transport-defective receptors (3), which are recognized and intracellularly retained by the quality control system (QCS). Besides NDI, transportdefective membrane proteins play a role in many other diseases (4, 5).The QCS is located mainly in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and allows only correctly folded and/or assembled proteins to leave the early secretory pathway and to reach their final cellular destination (6, 7). Several components have been described to contribute to the QCS: (i) the lectin chaperones calnexin and calreticulin involved in the quality control of glycoproteins; (ii) "classical" chaperones such as the IgG heavy chain-binding protein, endoplasmin/grp90, and the ER-resident DnaJ-like proteins ERdj1-ERdj5; and (iii) enzymes such as protein-disulfide isomerase and the thiol oxidoreductase ERp57 (8). Misfolded or unassembled membrane proteins initially display a prolonged association with components of the QCS. They may then either accumulate in the ER, leading to the unfolded protein response (9), and/or be subjected to proteasomal degradation (10,11). It has also been demonstrated that the QCS is not restricted to the ER but involves post-ER compartments such as the ER/Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) (12, 13). For the V 2 R, we have shown recently that transport-defective mutant receptors fall into two classes: mutants like L62P are retained exclusivel...