I-Corps: Tissue-specific hydrogel for peripheral nerve repair

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是能够更有效地治疗神经损伤。仅在美国，每年就有大约60万例外科手术重建周围神经，费用超过17亿美元。在中到重度周围神经损伤的病例中，例如涉及神经横断、拉伸或挤压的病例，长期结果很差。神经损伤导致的残疾与受影响者的长期护理费用超过70亿美元有关。再加上这些人丧失生产力的经济代价，每年的总代价超过150亿美元。这项拟议的工作旨在进一步开发和验证一种新技术，通过加速和改善神经修复，对神经损伤的临床护理产生重大影响。这个i-Corps项目基于多年来的研究，证明周围神经组织衍生水凝胶是神经修复的理想环境。通过多个试验台和临床前试验，已经表明，将这种水凝胶输送到神经修复部位可以调节对损伤的炎症反应，招募支持神经修复的细胞，并最终支持神经元的再生，从而改善功能恢复。这种解决方案有可能用于多种神经损伤方式，包括神经挤压、拉伸、横断和缝隙损伤，作为主要治疗或作为手术修复和/或神经移植的辅助。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the ability to more effectively treat nerve injuries. Each year in the United States alone there are about 600,000 surgical procedures performed to reconstruct peripheral nerves, with costs of more than $1.7B. In moderate to severe cases of peripheral nerve injury, such as those involving nerve transections, stretch, or crush, long-term outcomes are poor. Disabilities due to nerve injury are associated with more than $7B in costs of long-term care for those affected. Add to this the economic costs of lost productivity of these individuals and the total costs are in excess of $15B per year. The proposed work seeks to further develop and validate a novel technology which can have a significant impact upon clinical care for nerve injury by both speeding and improving nerve repair.This I-Corps project is based upon multiple years of research demonstrating that peripheral nerve tissue derived hydrogels represent an ideal environment for nerve repair. Through multiple benchtop and preclinical tests, it has been shown that delivery of such hydrogels to a site of nerve repair modulates the inflammatory response to injury, recruits cells which are supportive of nerve repair, and ultimately supports the regrowth of neurons resulting in improved functional recovery. This solution has the potential to be used in multiple nerve injury modalities including nerve crush, stretch, transection, and gap injuries as either a primary treatment or as an adjunct to surgical repair and/or nerve grafting.