Nanogels to stimulate autophagy
Autophagy is a natural process in the body that allows cells to degrade intracellular components. Autophagy disorders are associated with many diseases. Activating autophagy is essential in therapeutic approaches in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Many autophagy regulating compounds are being developed for therapeutic purposes, including trehalose, which is recognized as a safe, low-cost, neuroprotective agent in preclinical and clinical research. Unfortunately, due to low bioavailability, very high concentrations of trehalose and frequent administration are essential for in vivo efficacy. Therefore, materials, especially nanoparticles, which release trehalose under physiologically relevant conditions, can be an alternative approach to the simple administration of trehalose in classical formulations.
In order to improve the pharmacokinetic properties of trehalose, nanogels containing covalently bound trehalose will be synthesized with a moiety that enables the release of trehalose under physiological conditions. The most important feature of such trehalose-rich polymeric nanoparticles for intravenous administration is that they should have a long circulating time, and be able to release free trehalose at the desired site of action.
