New research from Harvard Medical School (HMS) may lead to breakthrough treatments for a wide range of diseases from cancer to stroke to long Covid and neurological illnesses.
Experimenting on mice and zebrafish, the Harvard team found a gene that can more easily move liquid through the blood-brain barrier. As a result, it may be used to deliver drugs to the central nervous system. In turn, that would help counter neurological disease and damage.
Blood Brain Barrier
The blood brain barrier is a layer of protective cells within the blood vessels of the brain and spinal cord. It acts as a gatekeeper to allow in or keep out various substances.
“In normal, day-to-day life, you need a blood-brain barrier to help protect you from invading toxins and pathogens in the blood,” explained lead author Natasha O’Brown, a research fellow in systems biology at HMS.
Mystery of Blood Barrier Unfolding
The flip side of this protection is that, in addition to blocking harmful substances, the barrier can also block medications.
How this security system for the central nervous system works has long been a mystery. However, this new study published in Developmental Cell is shedding light on how it can be used to treat disease and repair the barrier itself.
The blood brain barrier loses neuronal cells following stroke or diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
High Costs
Treatment and related costs for neurological disease and cancer are soaring.
The overall cost of treating the most prevalent neurological conditions, which include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and stroke, run about $765 billion, according to a report in The Lancet.
Cancer treatment and related costs are estimated to top $25.2 trillion by 2050, according to the JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association)Network.
Finding Spock1
The key to controlling access to and repair of the blood-brain barrier is a gene called Spock1. O’Brown discovered a mutation of the Trecky sounding gene caused the barrier to become permeable in some areas. In addition, further research showed that it also repaired degenerated blood brain barriers in zebrafish.
Spock1 is stored in humans. As a result, O’Brown feels it has a high potential for use in regulating the blood brain barrier.
“This isn’t the first neural signal scientists have found, but it is the first signal from neurons that specifically seems to regulate barrier properties,” O’Brown said. “I think this makes it a potent tool to try and toggle the switch.”
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