A team of neurobiologists has developed a revolutionary new way to deliver protein therapies through the blood-brain barrier. The new method could be used to more effectively treat many nerve cell disorders.
In the research, published in Nature Microbiology, the researchers engineered Toxoplasma gondii to produce a specific protein useful in treating brain disorders.
Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite in warm-blood animals capable of causing toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis can cause a variety of problems in the brain and is a result of the parasite secreting substances from three organelles that it has. In the study, the researchers engineered two of these organelles to secrete proteins used to treat neurological ailments.
The engineered T. gondii was tested using human brain organoids as well as live mice. Data revealed that engineering T. gondii did not impact its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. Additionally, in the human brain organoids, T. gondii was able to make its way to the desired neurons to deliver the secreted protein.