Introduction

A neurotrophic peptide is described for the therapeutic treatment of neurodegenerative and / or inflammatory pathologies. Also, a pharmaceutical composition is described comprising the neurotrophic peptide in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, as well as in combination with possible adjuvants, stabilizers and / or preservatives.

Technical features

The biological effects of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) on neuronal proliferation and survival and on nerve fiber growth are well known. The therapeutic use of NGF, however, suffers from some important limitations, such as the hyperalgesic effect and its susceptibility to degradation mediated by the matrix proteases. The precursor pro-Nerve Growth Factor variant A (proNGF-A), a variant predicted through bioinformatic analysis of the human genomic sequence and recently identified by us in human brain tissue samples (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ nuccore / MH358394), has its own biological activity and can exert a neurotrophic effect (Figure 1, 2). A production methodology is then developed for human recombinant proNGF-A, in its native form or selectively mutated to improve production yields and pharmacokinetic properties, by eukaryotic expression systems (Figure 3).

Possible Applications

• Therapy of neurodegenerative diseases;
• Therapy of chronic Inflammatory pathologies;
• Regenerative therapy of neuro traumas;
• Therapy of hypoxic-ischemic brain injuries.

Advantages

• Advantageous pharmacokinetics compared to NGF;
• Better safety profile than NGF;
• Proper glycosylation by eukaryotic bioreactors;
• Potential great value of the reference market;
• Simple technological transferability of the production protocol.