“Our breakthrough allows for minimally invasive combination delivery through an intravenous injection of various drugs, peptides and nucleic acid therapeutics to the brain.”
At present, treatment of neurological disorders involves difficulties in ‘packaging’ viruses safely and medication is usually administered by injection into the cerebrospinal fluid, which is not without risks.
The new technological breakthrough in delivering genetic materials to cells in the brain has used a peptide component from a virus that targets the brain (a bacteriophage fd). The peptide was synthesised and modified slightly, and when water was added it spontaneously formed a ‘small, hairy particle’.
Scientists found that when the developed particle was injected into a mouse model, the system targeted the brain, crossing the blood-brain-barrier, reaching neurons and microglia cells in the brain.
Professor Moghimi added: "We are very excited by our research – our delivery system is versatile and amenable to modifications, so, in principle, we can hopefully address shortfalls in drug delivery to the brain through intravenous injection.
“We have a long way to go, but we hope that our technology platform may open up many opportunities to address neurodegenerative diseases with modern therapeutics and genetic drugs.”