Enhanced brain cells clear away dementia-related proteins(medicalxpress.com)
medicalxpress.com
Enhanced brain cells clear away dementia-related proteins
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-brain-cells-dementia-proteins.html
2 comments
1st, this is unlike CAR-T as there is no extraction, engineering on that extraction, and then reinjection.
2nd, the only injection is intravenous. It uses a kind of virus that has been specifically engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier. That virus has a payload which infects/alters astrocytes already inside the brain, and the astrocytes become aggressive at clearing amyloid plaques.
3rd, I agree that the road to a marketable therapeutic could be a long way off.
2nd, the only injection is intravenous. It uses a kind of virus that has been specifically engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier. That virus has a payload which infects/alters astrocytes already inside the brain, and the astrocytes become aggressive at clearing amyloid plaques.
3rd, I agree that the road to a marketable therapeutic could be a long way off.
Astrocytes are fixed in brain tissue, so "single injection" means intracranial surgery.. the clinical bar for injecting anything into an Alzheimer's patient's brain is high enough that this is still a long way from a treatment.