platelets tagged posts

High molecular weight tau bands (about 80kDa) can be appreciated, with greater immunoreactivity in patients with AD compared with healthy subjects. Credit: Dr. Ricardo B. Maccioni

Drs Maccioni and Farías have pioneered the technology that detects in human blood platelets the pathological oligomeric forms of brain tau protein in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. More importantly, the ratio between this anomalous tau and the normal tau protein can discriminate AD patients from normal controls, and are associated with decreased cognitive impairment. These studies open a new avenue in the development of highly sensitive and efficient biomarkers for neurodegenerative disorders...

On the left is the schematic design of the TRAIL/Dox loaded platelet membrane-coated nanogel delivery system. The TRAIL is attached on the surface of membrane and Dox is loaded in the core of nanogel. On the right is a transmission electron microscope image of the drug delivery system. Black is the synthetic core nanogel, the outside shell is the platelet membrane. Credit: Quanyin Hu

It allows the drugs to last longer in the body and attack both primary cancer tumors and circulating tumor cells that can cause a cancer to metastasize. The work was tested successfully in an animal model. “There are two key advantages to using platelet membranes to coat anticancer drugs,” says assistant Prof Zhen Gu. “First, the surface of cancer cells has an affinity for platelets – they stick to each other...