MSU Technologies

Novel Gene Therapies to Mitigate Neurotoxicity for Improved Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disease

Executive Summary

Dysfunction of the kynurenine pathway has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, Huntington’s disease, brain ischemia, CNS infections, autoimmune disorders, mood disorders, and schizophrenia. If this pathway could be manipulated neuroprotection could be achieved.

Description of Technology

MSU researchers have developed a variety of gene therapy vectors to manipulate the kynurenine pathway. This novel technology utilizes adeno-associated viral vectors to overexpress an kynurenine pathway-modulating enzyme in a cell-specific manner in various cell populations in the brains. This involves using novel viral vectors that are designed to divert the kynurenine pathway into a neuroprotective mode. This approach thus provides a potential neurorestorative and/or neuroprotective environment.

Key Benefits

Neuroprotectant for a plethora of neurological disorders
Cell Specific Targeting: Unique library of viral vectors aims at precisely targeting specific cells
Modulating a normal cellular pathway, thus, no ectopic genes will be expressed.

Applications