Targeting neonatal ischemic brain injury with a pentapeptide-based irreversible caspase inhibitor

Brain protection of the newborn remains a challenging priority and represents a totally unmet medical need. Pharmacological inhibition of caspases appears as a promising strategy for neuroprotection. In a translational perspective, we have developed a pentapeptide-based group II caspase inhibitor, TRP601/ORPHA133563, which reaches the brain, and inhibits caspases activation, mitochondrial release of cytochrome c, and apoptosis in vivo. Single administration of TRP601 protects newborn rodent brain against excitotoxicity, hypoxia-ischemia, and perinatal arterial stroke with a 6-h therapeutic time window, and has no adverse effects on physiological parameters. Safety pharmacology investigations, and toxicology studies in rodent and canine neonates, suggest that TRP601 is a lead compound for further drug development to treat ischemic brain damage in human newborns.