Drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier

BIOSS-Researcher is funded by the Juniorprofessuren-Programm of the Land Baden-Wurttemberg

Junior professor Dr. Winfried Römer will be funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg and by the University of Freiburg. This funding program supports research projects of junior professors from different academic institutions. For each proposal, up to 150 000 can be granted and the institutions participate with 15 % of funding. The grant is awarded to Winfried Römer for a research project on proteins regulating transport at the blood-brain barrier “Lectin-based anti-cancer drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier”.

Illnesses of the brain as brain tumors, alzheimer disease or depression, are on the increase worldwide. More than 26 million people suffer from alzheimers disease. Promising therapies fail as drugs cannot be delivered where they are needed: In the brain of the patient. The reason for it is the blood brain barrier, an impermeable cell layer. This layer covers the blood vessels and shields the cells of the nervous systems from viruses, bacteria and harmful substances circulating in the blood.

However it also excludes 98% of potential therapeutic drugs. As even nutriments are blocked out, transport proteins are located on the cells of the barrier to actively select substances in the blood that the nervous system needs and pass them into the brain.

Winfried Römer wants to use this mechanism to smuggle drugs into the brain past the barrier. Molecules that are recognized by transport receptors are piggybacking the drug into the brain. Those drugs are large molecules like peptides, proteins or nuclear acids. When they bind the receptor, the membrane invaginates and builds a bubble called a vesicle. Inside the cell of the barrier this vesicle is transported to the opposite side of the layer and fuses with the membrane. This way it delivers the load, including the drug components, inside the brain. Here the drugs separate from their smuggle-molecule and can start to act where they are needed. Römer’s team wants to find out if this receptor mediated uptake can lead the way to future therapies.