Blood–brain barrier peptide shuttles

Macarena Sánchez-Navarro, Ernest Giralt, Meritxell Teixidó, Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, Volume 38, June 2017, Pages 134-140, ISSN 1367-5931, doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2017.04.019.

Brain delivery is hampered by the presence of the blood–brain barrier (BBB), a natural defence of the brain that protects it and allows the entrance of nutrients by several mechanisms. Taking advantage of these mechanisms is an opportunity to treat brain related diseases. Among the different alternatives, BBB peptide shuttles are gaining attention to increase brain delivery of therapeutics.

Peptides shuttles present several advantages over the brain delivery system alternatives. For instance, peptides are amenable for chemical synthesis, and present low toxicity. Some of the challenges of its application are already being solved. The recent development of new and more efficient BBB-shuttles will lead to more pre- clinical studies, and hopefully, to clinical evaluations in the following years.

 Blood–brain barrier peptide shuttles