Tetanus Toxin C-Fragment: The Courier and the Cure?

Toxins

Janne M. Toivonen¹  Sara Oliván¹ 

[1] LAGENBIO-I3A, Veterinary School, Aragón Institute of Health Sciences (IACS), Universidad de Zaragoza, Miguel Servet 177, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain;

关键词: tetanus toxin C-fragment;    therapeutic molecules;    gene therapy;    retrograde transport;    neurodegenerative disease;    motor neuron disease;   

DOI  :  10.3390/toxins2112622

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In many neurological disorders strategies for a specific delivery of a biological activity from the periphery to the central nervous system (CNS) remains a considerable challenge for successful therapy. Reporter assays have established that the non-toxic C-fragment of tetanus toxin (TTC), provided either as protein or encoded by non-viral naked DNA plasmid, binds pre-synaptic motor neuron terminals and can facilitate the retrograde axonal transport of desired therapeutic molecules to the CNS. Alleviated symptoms in animal models of neurological diseases upon delivery of therapeutic molecules offer a hopeful prospect for TTC therapy. This review focuses on what has been learned on TTC-mediated neuronal targeting, and discusses the recent discovery that, instead of being merely a carrier molecule, TTC itself may well harbor neuroprotective properties.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2010 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.