Myelin repair

Rittchen S, Boyd A, Burns A, Park J, Fahmy TM, Metcalfe S, Williams A. Myelin repair in vivo is increased by targeting oligodendrocyte precursor cells with nanoparticles encapsulating leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF).Biomaterials. 2015 Jul;56:78-85. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2015.03.044

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Many nerve axons are insulated by a myelin sheath and their demyelination not only prevents saltatory electrical signal conduction along the axons but also removes their metabolic support leading to irreversible neurodegeneration, which currently is untreatable. There is much interest in potential therapeutics that promote remyelination and here we explore use of leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a cytokine known to play a key regulatory role in self-tolerant immunity and recently identified as a pro-myelination factor. In this study, we tested a nanoparticle-based strategy for targeted delivery of LIF to oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPC) to promote their differentiation into mature oligodendrocytes able to repair myelin. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-based nanoparticles of ∼120 nm diameter were constructed with LIF as cargo (LIF-NP) with surface antibodies against NG-2 chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, expressed on OPC. In vitro, NG2-targeted LIF-NP bound to OPCs, activated pSTAT-3 signalling and induced OPC differentiation into mature oligodendrocytes. In vivo, using a model of focal CNS demyelination, we show that NG2-targeted LIF-NP increased myelin repair, both at the level of increased number of myelinated axons, and increased thickness of myelin per axon. Potency was high: a single NP dose delivering picomolar quantities of LIF is sufficient to increase remyelination. Impact statement Nanotherapy-based delivery of leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) directly to OPCs proved to be highly potent in promoting myelin repair in vivo: this delivery strategy introduces a novel approach to delivering drugs or biologics targeted to myelin repair in diseases such as MS.



Nanoparticles are particles between 1 and 100 nanometers in size. In nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that behaves as a whole unit with respect to its transport and properties. Particles are further classified according to diameter. Ultrafine particles are the same as nanoparticles and between 1 and 100 nanometers in size. Coarse particles cover a range between 2,500 and 10,000 nanometers. Fine particles are sized between 100 and 2,500 nanometer. The surface coating of nanoparticles is crucial to determining their properties. In particular, the surface coating can regulate stability, solubility, and targeting. For biological applications, the surface coating should be polar to give high aqueous solubility and prevent nanoparticle aggregation. Nanoparticles can be linked to biological molecules that can act as address tags, to direct the nanoparticles to specific sites within the body, specific organelles within the cell, or to follow specifically the movement of individual protein or RNA molecules in living cells. Common address tags are monoclonal antibodies, aptamers, streptavidin or peptides. These targeting agents should ideally be covalently linked to the nanoparticle and should be present in a controlled number per nanoparticle. Multivalent nanoparticles, bearing multiple targeting groups, can cluster receptors, which can activate cellular signaling pathways, and give stronger anchoring. Monovalent nanoparticles, bearing a single binding site, avoid clustering and so are preferable for tracking the behaviour of individual proteins.

In this study they targetLeukemia inhibitory factor, or LIF, is an interleukin 6 class cytokine that affects cell growth by inhibiting differentiation however it can influnece oligodendrocyte diffentiation. In this study the nanoparticles bound with LIF have been targeted to NG2 expressing oligodendrocyte precursor cells. They stimulated myelination in a chemical demyelination model will they work in autoimmune demyemyelination we shall see.

CoI: This is a study by TeamG.

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