Receptors identified for enhanced BBB crossing

CLOVER Director Tim Shay, CLOVER staff researcher Erin Sullivan, and affiliated graduate student Xiaozhe Ding led a multidisciplinary team effort, including Cal Poly Pomona undergraduate ASPIRE Scientist Anaya Crosby and the Beckman Institute Protein Expression Center. Their work uncovers new mechanisms by which engineered systemic AAVs may cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), identifying the mouse protein LY6C1 and the broadly conserved enzyme carbonic anhydrase IV (CA-IV). These findings suggest target-directed strategies for future engineering of vectors tailored to their intended host species. Read the feature in Caltech news and catch the full story in Science Advances. Congratulations to the team!

Enhanced LY6C1-dependent capsid AAV-PHP.eC is available on Addgene!