Intentionally infect Toxoplasma Deworming is not a recommended medical procedure. Although most people experience no noticeable symptoms, a small number of hosts will suffer from toxoplasmosis each year, a disease that can cause flu-like symptoms, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes for several weeks.
Toxoplasma Parasites achieve this by successfully crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) from the gut, a vital biological function that protects the central nervous system from unwanted foreign molecules. While parasites have no problem breaching the BBB, it remains challenging to develop potentially life-saving medicines that can cross that threshold. But what if those medicines piggybacked on genetically engineered versions of parasitic protozoans?
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This is a possibility that an international team of neurobiologists is exploring, detailing their latest work in a study published July 29 in the journal Neuroscience. Nature MicrobiologyThey say it may one day be possible to engineer the parasites into harmless carriers of chemicals that can be used to treat neurological diseases.
To demonstrate an early version of this concept, neurobiologists ToxoplasmaThe three organelles secrete proteins commonly used in patients with Rett syndrome. Affecting an estimated 1 in 8,500 newborns, this currently incurable genetic disorder occurs almost exclusively in women and causes lifelong physical and neurological disabilities.
After change ToxoplasmaTo study the organelles in the brain, the team first introduced the parasite into lab-grown human brain organoids, where they successfully delivered the MeCP2 protein to specific neurons. From there, they carried out three additional tests using mice: one group was injected with a saline solution containing the modified MeCP2 protein; ToxoplasmaThe second group was given unmodified parasites, while the other group served as a control group that was not exposed to any modified or native parasites. Toxoplasma The delivered parasites successfully crossed the blood-brain barrier in mice to deliver MeCP2 protein.
However, at the moment Toxoplasma Remaining Toxoplasma— either way, the parasite could cause toxoplasmosis. However, these first experiments were not aimed at neutralizing the parasite’s harm, but rather at showing how its genetic design could serve as a medical tool.
“The focus of this study is Toxoplasma “Our results provide a preliminary guideline for the future development of this approach, which could be used as a multipurpose protein vector,” the team wrote in an accompanying paper. Research ReportThey added that the amount of protein carried by the parasite is still relatively low at the moment, but the team believes that further experiments could iron out these issues and potentially lead to new, effective alternatives for crossing the notoriously difficult blood-brain barrier.
