# Engineered multi-therapeutic agents delivery system towards retinal ganglion cell axon regeneration

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2020 · $384,310

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 In the U.S., approximately 2.2 million people suffer from optic neuropathies, accounting for 9 to 12% of
all cases of blindness. Of them, 10% of patients that receive proper medical treatment continue to experience
vision loss, which obviously needs an alternative treatment strategy.
 One of current treatments utilizes neurotrophic factors (NTFs) to increase retinal ganglion cell (RGC)
survival, responsible for the visual function. While direct administration of NTFs via intravitreal injection has
had some success, a susceptibility to denaturation of these NTFs limits its clinical success. Also, the delivery
of NTFs alone may result in limited treatment success since optic neuropathies accompany neurodegeneration,
caused by the neurotoxic cycles.
 To resolve these problems, we have engineered polymeric nanoparticles that mimic negatively charged
sulfonate groups in natural heparin and deliver multiple therapeutic agents to continuously supply NTFs and
inhibit the neurotoxicity. The advantages of our strategy include: 1) sustained delivery of NTFs at target site,
mimicking continuous NTF transport, 2) prolonged bioactivity of NTFs encapsulated in the system and 3)
sustained delivery of an anti-neurotoxic agent, continuously inhibiting neurodegeneration during the
progression of optic neuropathies.
 We have constructed this application under two specific aims: (1) determine an appropriate
nanoparticle formulation for the co-delivery of the multiple therapeutic agents and (2) evaluate RGC axon
regeneration in rat optic nerve crush model.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9943806
- **Project number:** 1R01EY031461-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** Dae Won Park
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $384,310
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9943806

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9943806, Engineered multi-therapeutic agents delivery system towards retinal ganglion cell axon regeneration (1R01EY031461-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9943806. Licensed CC0.

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