Human nasal olfactory epithelium as a dynamic marker for CNS therapy development

Discovery of new central nervous system (CNS) acting therapeutics has been slowed down by the lack of useful applicable biomarkers of disease or drug action often due to inaccessibility of relevant human CNS tissue and cell types. In recent years, non-neuronal cells, such as astrocytes, have been reported to play a highly significant role in neurodegenerative diseases, CNS trauma, as well as psychiatric disease and have become a target for small molecule and biologic therapies. We report the development of a method for measuring pharmacodynamic changes induced by potential CNS therapeutics using nasal olfactory neural tissue biopsy. We validated this approach using a potential astrocyte-targeted therapeutic, thiamphenicol, in a pre-clinical rodent study as well as a phase 1 human trial. In both settings, analysis of the olfactory epithelial tissue revealed biological activity of thiamphenicol at the drug target, the excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2). Therefore, this biomarker approach may provide a reliable evaluation of CNS glial-directed therapies and hopefully improve throughput for nervous system drug discovery. ► Use of nasal biopsies as a surrogate marker for drug effects in the CNS. ► Astrocytic proteins expressed in human peripheral olfactory epithelial tissue. ► Glutamate transporter upregulating agents increase transporter mRNA in human olfactory epithelial tissue samples. ► Nasal biopsies can be reliably and safely employed in human clinical trials.