Reducing alcohol and/or cocaine-induced reward and toxicity via an epidermal stem cell-based gene delivery platform

Peptide GLP-1 receptor agonists: From injection to oral delivery strategies

Peptide glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are effective drugs for treating type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and have been proven to benefit the heart and kidney. Apart from oral semaglutide, which does not require injection, other peptide GLP-1RAs need to be subcutaneously administered. However, oral semaglutide also faces significant challenges, such as low bioavailability and frequent gastrointestinal discomfort. Thus, it is imperative that advanced oral strategies for peptide GLP-1RAs need to be explored. This review mainly compares the current advantages and disadvantages of various oral delivery strategies for peptide GLP-1RAs in the developmental stage and discusses the latest research progress of peptide GLP-1RAs, providing a useful guide for the development of new oral peptide GLP-1RA drugs.

Biopharmaceuticals against substance use disorders - Present and future

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Pharmacological treatments available for substance use disorder (SUD) focus on pharmacodynamics, agonizing or antagonizing the drug of abuse (DOA) on receptor level. Drawbacks of this approach include the reliance on long-term patient compliance, on-target off-site effects, perpetuation of addiction and unavailability for many DOAs. Newer, pharmacokinetic approaches are needed that restrict DOA's access to the brain or disrupt DOA-instated brain changes maintaining addiction. Biotechnology might be able to provide the right biopharmaceutical tools to deliver a fine-tuned solution with less side effects compared to currently available treatments.

METHODS

This review examines the available literature on biopharmaceuticals developed to treat SUD.

RESULTS

Active and passive immunization, metabolic enhancers that augment DOA metabolism and clearance, as well as genetic/epigenetic modulation are promising next generation SUD treatments. Active immunization relies on production of antidrug antibodies by means of vaccination, while passive immunization constitutes of exogenous administration of such antibodies. Metabolic enhancers include drug-specific metabolizing enzymes that can be administered or secreted by modified skin grafts, as well as catalytic antibodies that hasten DOA metabolism. Nanotechnological advances can also allow for brain delivery of siRNAs, mRNAs or DNA in order to modulate central, common in all addictions, genetic or epigenetic targets attenuating drug seeking behavior and reversing drug-induced brain changes.

CONCLUSIONS

and Scientific Significance: Biopharmaceuticals can in the future complement or even replace traditional pharmacodynamics approaches in SUD treatment. While passive and active immunization biopharmaceuticals have entered human clinical trials, metabolic enhancers and genetic approaches are at the preclinical level.

Nanoparticle delivery systems for substance use disorder

Innovative breakthroughs in nanotechnology are having a substantial impact in healthcare, especially for brain diseases where effective therapeutic delivery systems are desperately needed. Nanoparticle delivery systems offer an unmatched ability of not only conveying a diverse array of diagnostic and therapeutic agents across complex biological barriers, but also possess the ability to transport payloads to targeted cell types over a sustained period. In substance use disorder (SUD), many therapeutic targets have been identified in preclinical studies, yet few of these findings have been translated to effective clinical treatments. The lack of success is, in part, due to the significant challenge of delivering novel therapies to the brain and specific brain cells. In this review, we evaluate the potential approaches and limitations of nanotherapeutic brain delivery systems. We also highlight the examples of promising strategies and future directions of nanocarrier-based treatments for SUD.

Are There Neural Overlaps of Reactivity to Illegal Drugs, Tobacco, and Alcohol Cues? With Evidence From ALE and CMA

Abuses of most illegal drugs, including methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and polydrug, are usually in conjunction with alcohol and tobacco. There are similarities and associations between the behavior, gene, and neurophysiology of such abusers, but the neural overlaps of their cue-reactivity and the correlation of neural overlap with drug craving still needs to be further explored. In this study, an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) was performed on brain activation under legal (tobacco, alcohol) and illegal drug cues, for identifying the similarities in brain functions between different craving states. A Comprehensive meta-analysis (CMA) on the correlation coefficient between brain activation and craving scores in the selected literatures with subjective craving reports explained the degree of the craving via brain imaging results. In ALE, co-activation areas of the three cue-reactivity (posterior cingulate, caudate, and thalamus) suggest that the three cue-reactivity may all arouse drug-use identity which is a predictor of relapse and generation of conditioned reflexes under reward memory, thus leading to illegal drug relapses. In CMA, the brain activation was significantly correlated with subjective craving, with a correlation coefficient of 0.222. The neural overlap of tobacco, alcohol and most of the prevalent illegal drug cues not only further helps us understand the neural mechanism of substance co-abuse and relapse, but also provides implications to detoxification. Furthermore, the correlation between brain activation and craving is low, suggesting the accuracy of craving-based quantitative evaluation by neuroimaging remains unclear.

A Genetically Modified Skin Graft for Treating Alcohol Use Disorder and/or Polysubstance Abuse With Cocaine

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the foremost public health problems. Alcohol is also frequently co-abused with cocaine. There is a huge unmet need for the treatment of AUD and/or cocaine co-abuse. We have developed and used a skin stem cell-based gene delivery platform and found that production of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP1) from the grafted genetically modified skin reduced development and reinstatement of alcohol-induced drug-taking and seeking, voluntary oral alcohol consumption and alcohol-induced increase in dopamine (DA) levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Moreover, we have developed a novel co-grafting procedure for both modified human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE)- and GLP1-expressing cells. Skin grafts-derived hBChE and GLP1 reduced acquisition of drug-taking and toxicity induced by concurrent alcohol and cocaine injections. These results imply that gene delivery through skin transplants may add a new option to treat drug abuse and co-abuse.