Towards a Nanoparticle-based Prophylactic for Maternal Autoantibody-related Autism

Recently, ~23% of autism cases have been attributed to maternal immune dysfunction resulting in production of pathological autoantibodies in mothers of children with autism. During development, Maternal Autoantibody Related (MAR) autoantibodies cross the placenta and traverse the immature fetal blood brain barrier to target specific fetal brain proteins. The goal of the IMBL lab in collaboration with Prof. Judy Van De Water at the MIND Institute at UC Davis is to design an iron oxide-based nanoparticle system surface conjugated with the same epitopes to capture and clear the pathological MAR autoantibodies from the maternal circulation and result in normal development of the fetus. The prophylactic is called SNAREs as Systems for Nanoparticle-based Autoantibody Reception and Entrapment.