Think football and other cumulative injuries. Via Neuroscience News:
“We have found a peptide sequence of four amino acids, cysteine, alanine, glutamine, and lysine (CAQK), that recognizes injured brain tissue,” said Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., distinguished professor in SBP’s NCI-Designated Cancer Center and senior author of the study. “This peptide could be used to deliver treatments that limit the extent of damage.”
We did we show that CAQK carries drug-sized molecules and nanoparticles to damaged areas in mouse models of acute brain injury, we also tested peptide binding to injured human brain samples and found the same selectivity,” added Mann.
This peptide could also be used to create tools to identify brain injuries, particularly mild ones, by attaching the peptide to materials that can be detected by medical imaging devices,” Ruoslahti commented. “And, because the peptide can deliver nanoparticles that can be loaded with large molecules, it could enable enzyme or gene-silencing therapies.”