Transferrin Mediated Drug Delivery to Brain

Drug-delivery to the brain is a significant challenge due to the presence of the formidable blood-brain barrier (BBB). Current therapeutic interventions to treat brain disorders include surgical implants or catheters, both of which are highly invasive and carry the risk of long term neurological damage. In contrast, non-invasive strategies based on endogenous transport pathways in the brain are attractive alternatives for drug delivery to the brain. We are focusing on a specific pathway called receptor-mediated transcytosis (RMT) that involves dedicated cell-surface proteins for transport of protein cargoes across the cell. This pathway has previously shown great promise for transport of antibodies and drug conjugates of transport proteins like transferrin (Tf), insulin etc. We are developing a novel drug delivery strategy based on short peptides that bind to human Tf and can be used to deliver drugs via the RMT pathway of Tf. Herein we describe our initial results and future work on developing peptide based drug delivery systems to target the brain.