Current advances on the brain-derived neurotrophic factor in therapy of retinitis pigmentosa

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a kind of small molecule basic protein mainly synthesized in cortical areas and widely expressed in central nervous system.According to recent studies, BDNF plays a role in protection, nutrition and anti-apoptosis to retinal cells, including retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), retinal photoreceptor cells (RPCs) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells.Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a degenerative fundus disease due to the progressive degeneration of the RPCs in the retina.Mammalian modules verified the value of long-term BDNF in RP therapy.However, short half-life in vivo and failing to pass the blood-retina barrier become the obstacles to deliver BDNF intraocular, which bring challenges to BDNF applying in clinic.To make BDNF release intraocular stable and sustained, novel delivery system for BDNF have been tasted, such as gene engineering techniques, cell plantation techniques, sustained-released polymer delivery system and eye-drops.This article focuses on current research status of BDNF to RP treatment and its novel drug delivery system.