# In Vivo Neuroprotective Properties and Action Mechanism(s) of Plant-produced Asialo-erythropoietin

> **NIH NIH SC1** · NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $370,000

## Abstract

Abstract
 There is an acute need to develop neuroprotective drugs to prevent or/and protect neuronal cell
damage and death caused by ischemia/reperfusion, hypoxia or cytotoxic agents in the brain. Plant-
based expression system can be used to produce asialo-rhuEPO, a non-hematopoietic
recombinant human EPO derivative lacking sialic acid, which could be used as a neuroprotective
agent for preventing and protecting brain damage from ischemia/reperfusion injury. In our previous
studies, we found that plant-produced asialo-rhuEPO (asialo-rhuEPOP) is non-erythropoietic and
displays excellent neuroprotective effects in a young mouse model of middle cerebral artery
occlusion (MCAO) I/R injury. Our previous studies have set the stage for the current proposed
research activities. In this SC1 renewal application, we propose to extend asialo-rhuEPOP-mediated
neuroprotection studies to aged mice, evaluate long-term neurological outcomes in both young and
aged mice, and further understand its neuroprotective mechanisms.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10172032
- **Project number:** 2SC1GM111178-05
- **Recipient organization:** NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jiahua Xie
- **Activity code:** SC1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $370,000
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2017-01-01 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10172032

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10172032, In Vivo Neuroprotective Properties and Action Mechanism(s) of Plant-produced Asialo-erythropoietin (2SC1GM111178-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10172032. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*