Therapeutic proteins can hitch a ride on parasite to bypass blood-brain barrier
By 
Anthony King2024-08-05T13:30:00
Toxoplasma could be delivery agent for protein drugs – provided parasite can be made safe
An engineered parasite could be used to deliver therapeutic proteins to patients’ brains.
The blood-brain barrier protects animals’ brains by excluding large molecules and almost all proteins. This makes it challenging to deliver therapeutic proteins to the brain. However, the parasite Toxoplasma gondii has a natural proclivity to cross the blood-brain barrier of people and most other warm-blooded animals.