The blood brain barrier (BBB) is a highly selective semipermeable complex, and only about 2% of small molecules in the blood can penetrate it. Because of this, drug delivery to the brain is fairly ineffective. Research into receptors expressed on the BBB is promising, however, many receptors (glucose transporter 1, transferrin receptor, LDL-receptor...

The human retinoid X receptors (RXRs) function as transcriptional regulators, often in partnership with members of a larger nuclear receptor family of transcription factors. RXR agonists have been shown to modulate RXR transcription and activate or repress various biological pathways and effect therapeutic results for various conditions. There are a...

Inhibitory neurotransmitters, such as y-aminobutyric acid (GABA), taurine, taurine analogs and β-alanine, have been associated with neurological disorders such as epilepsy, schizophrenia, dementia, autism, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and more. Additionally, gut microbiome dysbiosis has also been linked to many neurological disorders, with modulations...

Pain is estimated to affect about 30% of the world’s population and treatment is challenging because of issues with addiction and withdrawal which accompany many current analgesics. Human TRPV1 is a widely expressed nociceptor and is a desirable target to modulate diverse human pathophysiologies, including pain, obesity, and diabetes, among others....

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are able to selectively infect and kill cancer cells without damaging normal cells. They can be used as a monotherapy, or they can be combined with existing cancer therapeutics for increased potency. While much progress has been made around OVs, one of their biggest limitations is their inability to successfully replicate, spread,...

Antigen-specific immune suppression or tolerance is a highly attractive strategy to prevent inflammation-induced tissue damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although there is insufficient knowledge about autoantigens in human RA, generating and expanding synovium-specific regulatory T cells, and suppressing synovium-specific follicular T-helper cells,...

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell-based immunotherapies have dramatically improved survival in cancer patients. Unfortunately, CAR-T cell therapies are associated with severe neurotoxicity, adverse events during clinical trials, and cytokine storm syndrome among others. Therefore, there is a great need to develop strategies that can keep the benefits...

There is a great need to deliver metabolites intracellularly without modifying the metabolite itself and rescue immune cells against metabolic exhaustion. In cancer therapy, metabolic pathway inhibitors are used that starve both cancerous cells as well as non-cancerous cells. Therefore, the ability to target specific immune cells and deliver metabolites...

Inhibition of glycolysis or glutaminase pathway is an effective strategy to prevent cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. However, these pathways are also utilized by immune cells to mount responses against cancer cells, and therefore, utilizing, immunotherapies in the presence of such inhibitors is challenging. Thus, there is a need for technologies...

There is a rich history of successful drug delivery carriers made of biodegradable biomaterials. Biomaterials may degrade into metabolic by-products, which are capable of modulating the function of immune cells, including alpha-ketoglutarate (aKG), which induces alternative activation (immunosuppressive phenotype) in macrophages through metabolic reprogramming....