Microglia for scar-less healing, protection, and regeneration in the CNS

Background

Neuron injuries associated with neurodegenerative diseases, neuroinflammation, or physical spinal cord injury have very limited therapeutic options. These pathological conditions are often permanent and include cognitive decline, persistent physical pain, paralysis, and complete loss of mobility. Due to the complexity of these conditions, researchers have been able to halt some forms of neurodamage, but not reverse it. With some forms of physical injuries, such as injuries to the spinal cord, patient quality of life may dramatically decline and remain irreversible. Developing therapies to recover from neurological damage would have a significant impact on the millions of patients affected by neuron injuries. Currently, there are over 50 million patients living with neurodegenerative diseases, over 2 million with neuroinflammation, and around 250K new spinal cord injury patients each year.

Technology Overview

Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital discovered a key role of microglia cells in spinal cord injury healing and spontaneous axon regeneration. The team identified a set of genes differentially expressed in neonatal vs. adult microglia, such as extracellular and intracellular peptidase inhibitors, essential for neurodamage healing. The team transplanted neonatal microglia and adult microglia treated with peptidase inhibitors into adult spinal cord lesions, improving wound healing and axon regrowth. The treatment with peptidase inhibitors harnesses the neuro-regenerative mechanism typical of neonatal microglia. Due to the role of microglia activation in inflammation, the activation mechanism reported has the potential to be beneficial for both neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation as well as in the reduction of post-injury scar formation.

Applications

• Neurodegenerative diseases
• Neuroinflammation
• Reducing post-injury scar formation
• Physical spinal injuries

Advantages

• First therapy for reverting neurodegeneration and spinal injuries
• Improvement to wound healing
• Promotes axon regrowth