In recent groundbreaking research, Dr. William H. Frey II (Director, Alzheimer’s Research Center) and Dr. Lusine Danielyan announced that they have discovered and patented that therapeutic cells, including adult stem cells, can be delivered to the brain using a noninvasive intranasal delivery method.
This non-invasive intranasal method for bypassing the blood-brain barrier can rapidly delivery and target therapeutic agents to the brain along the olfactory and trigeminal neural pathways while reducing systemic exposure and side effects. The intranasal insulin treatment discovered by Dr. Frey for Alzheimer’s disease has been shown in multiple clinical trials to improve memory in both Alzheimer’s patients and normal adults.
The intranasal stem cell treatment Drs. Danielyan and Frey pioneered has been shown to bypass the blood-brain barrier to treat Parkinson’s, stroke, neonatal ischemia, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors and subarachnoid hemorrhage in animal models of these disorders.
Transformative Delivery Method
What interests us most about this research is not the delivery of insulin or stem cells. Rather, it is that this team of researchers is showing repeated success in animal models with intranasal delivery of therapeutic agents for treatment of neurological conditions. This is an incredible advance, as the ability to bypass the blood-brain barrier has usually been a limiting factor.
Indeed, most other methods we’re following use invasive methods for introducing the cells, such as surgical transplantation, intravenous administration (often causing localization of the stem cells in unwanted regions such as the lungs), or similar. This is true of UC Irvine’s recent preclinical trial that used transplantation of genetically modified neural stem cells (April 15, 2014), and Stemedica’s preclinical study that utilized intravenous administration of mesenchymal stem cells (first results released Aug 20, 2014).
As such, we are intrigued by Drs. Danielyan and Frey’s ability to prove that the stem cells submitted intranasally localize to damaged regions of the brain. Now that is a “smart cell”!
To License or Collaborate
As a stem cell business intelligence (BI) company, we are interested in delivering information about ground-breaking, transformative technologies. While only research in humans can confirm the potential of intranasal delivery technology, it is clear that it has the potential to shift industry conditions for treatment of CNS conditions.
The next step in development of this technology is research in humans, which will likely involve licensing or collaboration with a larger partner. To inquire about licensing opportunities, please contact Dr. William H. Frey II at “alzheimr@umn.edu”.
To Learn More
Two key papers about the technology are “Intranasal delivery of cells to the brain” and “Therapeutic efficacy of intranasally delivered mesenchymal stem cells in a rat model of Parkinson disease.”
Other important papers showing proof-of-concept are: