One difficult problem faced by doctors dealing with patients who have suffered injury to their central nervous system is the secondary degeneration of adjacent nerve cells and fibers that were not initially damaged in the injury. This curious and dangerous phenomenon can cause total paralysis in patients that have suffered only partial damage to nerve tissue in the spinal cord. However, scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science have developed an innovative method of limiting the secondary degeneration, using the body?s own immune system.
Having already developed an immunity-based therapy for repairing the spinal cord after a complete injury, scientists of the Weizmann Institute's Neurobiology Department applied their skills to further limit degeneration after a partial spinal cord injury. While restricted in effectiveness, the body?s own white blood cells of the immune system have been shown to have a protective effect on damaged spinal cord tissues. The innovation of the Weizmann scientists is in the use of vaccination to trigger the natural protective mechanism of the immune system.
Studies carried out on rats showed significant recovery of movement after partial spinal cord injury in the animals treated with the specially designed peptide vaccine. As the secondary degeneration occurs soon after primary injury, the vaccine treatment appears to be effective for a period of one week after injury. The nature of the treatment is such, according to the Weizmann Institute, that it may also prove effective in overcoming the effects of stroke or brain injury.
Having already developed an immunity-based therapy for repairing the spinal cord after a complete injury, scientists of the Weizmann Institute's Neurobiology Department applied their skills to further limit degeneration after a partial spinal cord injury. While restricted in effectiveness, the body?s own white blood cells of the immune system have been shown to have a protective effect on damaged spinal cord tissues. The innovation of the Weizmann scientists is in the use of vaccination to trigger the natural protective mechanism of the immune system.
Studies carried out on rats showed significant recovery of movement after partial spinal cord injury in the animals treated with the specially designed peptide vaccine. As the secondary degeneration occurs soon after primary injury, the vaccine treatment appears to be effective for a period of one week after injury. The nature of the treatment is such, according to the Weizmann Institute, that it may also prove effective in overcoming the effects of stroke or brain injury.