Polysialic acid-targeting peptides: the future of human health treatment?

Researchers have designed peptide ligands with the ability to selectively bind to polysialic acid, which may prove useful in the treatment of a variety of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cancer. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Syracuse University (both NY, USA) have successfully designed chemically engineered peptide lipids that can selectively and specifically bind to polysialic acid, a carbohydrate that plays an important role in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. In the study, published recently in Scientific Reports, the researchers suggested that the peptides could have important implications for biological processes and biotechnological applications. The researchers...