GLIAL FIBRILLARY ACIDIC PROTEIN TARGETING IMMUNO-AND APTAMER-BASED-THERAPY FOR NEUROINJURY, NEURODEGENERATION, NEURO-DISEASE, AND NEURO-REPAIR

摘要

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity around the world. Active immunization with GFAP protein or GFAP peptide or passive immunization with anti- GFAP antibodies or treatment with a GFAP-binding aptamer can be used to reduce the post-TBI induced expression of GFAP, Tau and p-Tau in brain cortex tissues to attenuate the increased serum levels of GFAP after brain injury, and reduce the serum levels of pNF-H, Tau and p-Tau TBI. In addition, GFAP immunization can alleviate anxiety behavior and improve cognitive performance post-injury. Thus, active or passive GFAP immunization or administration of GFAP-binding aptamer(s) provides a treatment with therapeutic value in suppressing astroglial activation/astrogliosis, and in treating neural injuries such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, cerebral hemorrhage, or neurodegenerative diseases such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, and other dementias.