"Cat poop" brain parasite could be hijacked to deliver drugs
Brain parasites are something that most people would naturally want to avoid, but maybe they can be used for good. A new study has found that a common brain parasite could be engineered to deliver drugs past the blood-brain barrier.
Toxoplasma gondii is an intriguing and insidious parasite. Its primary host is felines, and it can only sexually reproduce in the intestines of cats – but it can take a roundabout way to get there. It can infect many types of warm-blooded animals, including humans. Once ingested through infected meat, soil or feces, it spreads throughout the body, including the brain.
Effects aside, T. gondii has naturally overcome a major hurdle that prevents scientists treating a host of neurological conditions – the blood-brain barrier. This defense mechanism keeps almost all molecules circulating in the bloodstream out of the brain, protecting that most vital of organs from harm. But unfortunately, therapeutic molecules are also blocked from entering, which makes it tricky to treat brain cancers and other diseases.
So for the new study, an international team of researchers investigated whether the parasite’s ability to cross the blood-brain barrier could be harnessed to deliver drugs. The team engineered T. gondii to produce a protein called MeCP2, which is a promising candidate for treating a rare genetic neurological condition called Rett syndrome.
Once that was done, the researchers tested whether the parasites could deliver MeCP2 to the right cells in the brain. Sure enough, experiments in mice and in lab-grown mini-brains showed that the T. gondii was able to smuggle the goods past the blood-brain barrier.
Toxoplasma gondii is an intriguing and insidious parasite. Its primary host is felines, and it can only sexually reproduce in the intestines of cats – but it can take a roundabout way to get there. It can infect many types of warm-blooded animals, including humans. Once ingested through infected meat, soil or feces, it spreads throughout the body, including the brain.
Effects aside, T. gondii has naturally overcome a major hurdle that prevents scientists treating a host of neurological conditions – the blood-brain barrier. This defense mechanism keeps almost all molecules circulating in the bloodstream out of the brain, protecting that most vital of organs from harm. But unfortunately, therapeutic molecules are also blocked from entering, which makes it tricky to treat brain cancers and other diseases.
So for the new study, an international team of researchers investigated whether the parasite’s ability to cross the blood-brain barrier could be harnessed to deliver drugs. The team engineered T. gondii to produce a protein called MeCP2, which is a promising candidate for treating a rare genetic neurological condition called Rett syndrome.
Once that was done, the researchers tested whether the parasites could deliver MeCP2 to the right cells in the brain. Sure enough, experiments in mice and in lab-grown mini-brains showed that the T. gondii was able to smuggle the goods past the blood-brain barrier.
kolkas tik ideja, bet taip kazka i smegenis ikist yra labai sunku. Blood brain barrier taip vadinamas yra.
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