Capitol News

Researchers at Michigan State University have made significant progress in the use of nanoparticles to deliver medicine directly to brain tissue, potentially benefiting patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Morteza Mahmoudi, an associate professor in the Department of Radiology and the Precision Health program at MSU's College of Human Medicine, stated that their work focuses on identifying the biological identity of nanoparticles. "This is important because the type of proteins that come to the surface provide a unique pattern that can give the green light to pass the blood-brain barrier and work directly in the brain tissues," Mahmoudi explained.

Mahmoudi and his team have published two papers on this topic in Nature Communications. The studies highlight the need for standardized procedures in protein corona analysis, which is crucial for advancing clinical applications of nanoscale biotechnologies. Mahmoudi noted, "We prepared identical nanoparticles with the protein corona and sent them to 17 different evaluation centers. We found significant data variability with only 1.8% of proteins consistently identified by all."

In related research published in ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, Mahmoudi collaborated with Clene Nanomedicine, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Their study focused on how gold nanocrystals used in CNM-Au8® aid in treating neurodegenerative diseases. "Because we have more than 15 years of evolving experience with robust analysis of protein corona, we were able to work with Clene to shed light on the biological identity of their nanoparticles," Mahmoudi said.

CNM-Au8® consists of clean-surfaced gold nanocrystals taken orally by patients. These nanocrystals pass through the gastrointestinal tract into circulation where they interact with blood proteins forming a protein/biomolecular corona. Mahmoudi added, "This composition enhances the nanocrystals’ ability to traverse the blood-brain barrier."

Further details about these findings can be accessed through MSUToday or Clene Nanomedicine, Inc.