Synthetic peptide carrier provides drugs through the blood-brain barrier for the treatment of cancer

Synthetic peptide carrier provides drugs through the blood-brain barrier for the treatment of cancer -

Researchers at Mayo Clinic have demonstrated in a mouse model that recently developed their synthetic peptide carrier is a potential delivery vehicle brain cancer chemotherapy drugs and other neurological drugs. The results appear in PLOS ONE .

"Not only have we shown that we can carry eight different molecules, we believe that this method will be least disruptive or invasive because it mimics a normal physiological process," says Mayo Clinic neuroscientist Gobinda Sarkar, Ph.D. ., the corresponding author of the study. the researchers are able to transport drugs without changing any of the molecules concerned. They say this development will help evaluate potential new drugs for brain cancer.

the blood-brain barrier is intended to protect the brain from many unwanted chemicals circulating in the body, but it also impedes access for the treatment of brain tumors and other conditions. Too often, only recourse is invasive, often limit the effectiveness of a drug or causes irreversible damage to an already damaged brain. Almost all drugs that could help are too large to pass normally through the barrier. In addition, other methods can damage the vascular system.

In this case, the synthetic peptide K16ApoE, once injected into a vein, binds to proteins in the blood to create entities that can pass for near-normal ligands for some receptors present on the barrier blood-brain. The "pseudo-ligand receiving interaction creates what researchers believe to be transient pores through which different molecules can be transported to the brain. Molecules they transported in this manner include cisplatin, methotrexate, cetuximab, the three different dyes, and synthetic peptides Y8 and I-125. The researchers think that this method is less complicated, less expensive and more versatile to provide therapy to the brain. Previously, researchers have provided antibodies against amyloid plaques in the brains of mice with Alzheimer's disease models using the same process.

"It is known that certain chemotherapy drugs can kill brain tumor cells when they are outside the brain (as in a lab test.) But because agents can not cross the blood-brain barrier they are not able to kill brain tumor cells within the brain. with the peptide support, these agents may now enter the brain and potentially kill tumor cells, "says Mayo researcher in neurology Robert Jenkins, MD, Ph.D., lead author of the study

researchers say their method, which has been successfully demonstrated in mice, meets three of the five requirements for a usable therapy. It is possible as a repeated procedure, it should be relatively easy to introduce in medical practice, and he would work for any size or location of the brain tumor more research needs to be done to prove the effectiveness and identify. possible side effects.