Surgical repair in combination with a gene therapy treatment leads to a faster recovery after nerve damage, shows a study conducted in rats at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) and the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). For the first time, survival of nerve cells and regeneration of nerve fibers was stimulated over a long distance.
Certain accidents can cause that nerves in the neck can be torn out of the spinal cord, causing patients’ loss of arm function. The only available treatment so far is surgical repair, explain the authors of the study, published in the journal Brain.
“After surgery, nerve fibers have to bridge many centimeters before reaching the muscles and nerve cells from which new fibers need to regenerate are lost in large numbers. Most regenerating nerve fiber do not reach the muscles. The recovery of arm function is therefore disappointing and incomplete,” explains researcher Ruben Eggers of the NIN.
Gene therapy combined with neurosurgery in rats allows the rescue dying nerve cells and growth of nerve fiber in the direction of the muscle. In the study, the NIN researchers used a modifiable gene therapy that can switch on and off growth factor by using a widely used antibiotic.
“Because we were able to switch off the gene therapy when the growth factor was no longer needed, the regeneration of new nerve fibers towards the muscles was improved considerably,” says Ruben Eggers.
However, immune system could recognize and removing the gene switch. To overcome that problem, the team of NIN researchers developed a hidden version, what they call ‘stealth gene switch’.
Professor Joost Verhaagen (NIN) explains: “The stealth gene switch is an important step forward towards the development of gene therapy for nerve damage. The use of a stealth switch improves the gene therapy rendering it even safer.”
The researchers were able to switch off the gene, using this system; however they still found small amounts of the active gene when the switch was turned off. Therefore, further research is needed to optimize this therapy.
Source: Science Daily
