A new discovery suggests that, in the future, it may be possible to chemically reprogram and repair damaged nerves after spinal cord injury or brain trauma.
Researchers from Imperial College London and the Hertie Institute, University of Tuebingen, have identified a possible mechanism for re-growing damaged nerve fibres in the central nervous system (CNS).
Published in Nature Communications, the research highlights the role of a protein called P300/CBP-associated factor (PCAF), which appears to be essential for the series of chemical and genetic events that allow nerves to regenerate. Regenerating nerve fibres is one of the best hopes for those suffering from CNS damage to recover. When researchers injected PCAF into mice with damage to their central nervous system, it significantly increased the number of nerve fibres that grew back, indicating that it may be possible to chemically control the regeneration of nerves in the CNS.
“The results suggest that we may be able to target specific chemical changes to enhance the growth of nerves after injury to the central nervous system,” said lead study author, Professor Simone Di Giovanni from Imperial College London’s Department of Medicine.
“The ultimate goal could be to develop a pharmaceutical method to trigger the nerves to grow and repair and to see some level of recovery in patients. We are excited about the potential of this work but the findings are preliminary. “The next step is to see whether we can bring about some form of recovery of movement and function in mice after we have stimulated nerve growth through the mechanism we have identified. If this is successful, then there could be a move towards developing a drug and running clinical trials with people.”
