Development of neuromodulating AAV-KCC2 gene therapy to treat paralysis, spasticity and neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury.

总结 脊髓损伤的治疗方法有哪些？大约有30万人生活在慢性 脊髓损伤在美国对于他们中的绝大多数人来说，受伤使他们无法行走，或者，如果他们 患有颈椎脊髓损伤，完全依赖他人的帮助，在他们的日常活动 从喂养到个人护理。我们正在开发一种神经调节基因疗法， 急性和慢性SCI患者，将作为单次注射输送到脊髓。 损伤后的神经调节具有恢复功能恢复的潜力，如许多研究所示。 不同的调查员脊髓损伤后，有一个电化学不平衡，阻止运动神经元 引发对手臂和腿的运动至关重要的正常肌肉动作。这种不平衡部分是 这是由一种叫做KCC2的氯化物转运蛋白的减少引起的。事实证明，通过恢复正常 如果脊髓神经元中的这种转运蛋白水平升高，瘫痪的小鼠就能恢复行走能力。此外，委员会认为， KCC2的增强减轻了啮齿动物模型中的疼痛和痉挛。这项拨款申请旨在审查 一种新的治疗方法，具有向人类临床研究转化的潜力和特性， 在临床前模型中测试它们。

Summary There are no approved therapies for spinal cord injury. There are about 300,000 people living with chronic spinal cord injury in US. For the vast majority of them, the injury left them incapable of walking or, if they have suffered a cervical SCI, entirely dependent upon others for assistance in all of their activities of daily living from feeding to personal care. We are developing a neuromodulating gene therapy for treating both acute and chronic SCI patients that will be delivered as a single injection to spinal cord. Neuromodulation after injury has the potential to restore functional recovery, as shown by a number of different investigators. After SCI there is an electrochemical imbalance that prevents motor neurons from eliciting normal muscle actions that are critical for movement of arms and legs. This imbalance is partly caused by a decrease in the chloride transporter called KCC2. It has been shown that by restoring normal levels of this transporter in spared spinal cord neurons, paralyzed mice regain walking ability. Furthermore, enhancement of KCC2 reduces pain and spasticity in rodent models. This grant application aims to examine a new therapy that has the potency and properties to be translated towards human clinical studies, by testing them in preclinical models.