PhD Graduate St John's University Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with memory decline and cognitive impairment. It is an increasingly growing global health and socioeconomic concern, affecting more than 50 million people worldwide. Though therapeutics have been developed to combat this disease, their inability to cross the complex blood-brain barrier have limited their efficacy. However, the use of endogenous, nanosized exosomes may prove to be an effective drug delivery tool and hence, can address this shortcoming. In this study, microglia-derived exosomes loaded with a small molecule C1r inhibitor were administered intranasally in the treatment of AD. The results of the study demonstrated successful delivery of these loaded exosomes to the brain and the efficacy of the small molecule C1r inhibitor in reducing the severity of neuroinflammation in AD. This demonstrates the capability of small molecule complement inhibitors via exosome drug delivery in the treatment of AD.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion participants should be able to explain the characteristics of exosomes and their function as a drug delivery tool.
Upon completion participants should be able to understand the exosome drug loading process.
Upon completion participants should be able to understand the ability of exosomes to cross the blood-brain barrier to deliver therapeutics