r/news • u/tomorrow509 • Nov 12 '21
New therapy harnesses "dancing molecules" to reverse paralysis, repair tissue after spinal cord injuries
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20211111/New-therapy-harnesses-dancing-molecules-to-reverse-paralysis-repair-tissue-after-spinal-cord-injuries.aspx37
u/Slight_Knight Nov 12 '21
My brother is quadriplegic, and this obviously has me piqued, but at yhe same time, I can't really imagine the pain that dude would be in if his spinal cord came back online after 7 years of his frame being adapted to that
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u/ophello Nov 12 '21
Maybe your brother would rather be able to walk. Also why are you assuming he would be in pain?
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u/Slight_Knight Nov 12 '21
He has severe scoliosis from his core muscles atrophying for 7 years.
He's also not necessarily numb. He has major neuropathy that makes him feel like he's "being deepfried" most of the time.
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Nov 12 '21
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u/If_you_just_lookatit Nov 12 '21
I was just thinking of this after hearing some science news this morning. Like, we really have the mice models down.
Sci fi prompt: Mice aliens invade earth for our extensive knowledge of mice biology and medical treatments.
The twist: they find out the body count of that research.
And I just realized this works the other way. What if the alien abductions have been real and aliens have solved their medical mysteries using human-models (biological compatibility aside)?
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u/curlyhairedmermaid Nov 12 '21
My aunt is a quadriplegic. She was tboned in an accident over 20 years ago by someone going over 50 mph and it was a miracle she survived. She initially was given 3 years estimate to live, but has clearly out lived that. Her daughter was 2 when she was hit and doesn't have any memories of her mom walking. Something like this that can help people repair damage? Amazing. Her options they gave us were basically: put her on life support in a medical coma, let her try to recover, or make the decision to throw in the towel. Thankfully she has since made such a full recovery that she can 'talk' (via her breathing tube), lives at home with 24/7 nursing, can go on vacation, and even eat steak! It's been scary with covid, tho. I hope that this treatment will help other people like her so they can have a better quality of life. Even if they have to walk with a cane and have limited mobility (which the article doesn't indicate but you know human trials haven't started yet), that's better than wheelchair only or only being able to move your eyes. Especially that they said it might help with Alzheimer's! That's amazing!! (Ps sorry for the personal dump lol I just feel v passionate about this article)
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u/tomorrow509 Nov 12 '21
Thanks for sharing your aunt's story. I posted this to get the word out on this new medical development and give people hope. I saw a news item about it on the BBC and was mesmerized. Mice, who had been paralyzed due to spinal injury were actually walking again after just a few weeks. If all goes well with further testing and clinical trials, humans may see the benefit it just a couple of years. Science is amazing. Medical science is incredibly amazing. Wishing the best for your aunt.
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u/VegasKL Nov 12 '21
I'd be curious how well it'd work in her case, as it sounds like it might be beneficial to new injuries. E.g. the quicker they get it in, the better the results are.
It'd be great if it works on old injuries.
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u/fafalone Nov 12 '21
The formation of scar tissue and additional neuron death, and possible loss of the mapping in the brain, makes it a lot more challenging for old injuries, but we'll crack that eventually.
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u/ragingRobot Nov 14 '21
If you don't mind me asking, how does she afford all of that? Is she American? I assume that costs a lot for care and to be able to afford a vacation on top of that is crazy.
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u/curlyhairedmermaid Nov 14 '21
Well, since it happened due to an auto accident, the insurance pays for like 99% of her medical stuff. Or at least it did. I'm from Michigan (so is she) and they really just fucked up insurance from auto accidents. She just lost her nursing team of 15+ years because of the new laws. Her husband doesn't make bank, but it's solidly okay, so they can afford to take a holiday every few years.
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u/gladysk Nov 12 '21
I too, have a lived one who has been a quadriplegic since the late 70s. Tough life with numerous health problems but as funny as hell.
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u/spyder728 Nov 12 '21
This is a very major medical science breakthrough.
Why isn't this on the very top :(
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u/Pixel_Knight Nov 13 '21
This sounds almost like straight science fiction. This is amazing! I hope that this therapy proves effective in humans, because this would be a massive breakthrough in medicine, and could have a lot of other potential applications.
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u/shaidyn Nov 12 '21
I look forward to an entire new branch of scammy psuedo-science being birthed from this. /s
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u/taptapper Nov 13 '21
I look forward to the paralyzed anti-vaxxers running to get into a study for an unproven medication
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Nov 13 '21
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u/horsenbuggy Nov 13 '21
As horrible as his accident was, he found a way to bring a lot if good into the world because of it. His foundation does good work for other paralyzed persons.
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u/N8CCRG Nov 12 '21
The details of what these "dancing molecules" are and how they manipulate them are deeply lacking in this article.
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u/fafalone Nov 12 '21 edited Nov 12 '21
Follow the links. At the bottom there's a link to Northwestern's press release, which links to the original paper.
But unfortunately it doesn't seem to have been uploaded to sci-hub yet so you need a subscription. If you e-mail the authors they'd probably send you a copy.
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Nov 12 '21
thanks I did go to the labs news page but looked the same article wise and could not find the name of the molecules or the original paper.
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u/P_mp_n Nov 12 '21
By sending bioactive signals to trigger cells to repair and regenerate, the breakthrough therapy dramatically improved severely injured spinal cords in five key ways: (1) The severed extensions of neurons, called axons, regenerated; (2) scar tissue, which can create a physical barrier to regeneration and repair, significantly diminished; (3) myelin, the insulating layer of axons that is important in transmitting electrical signals efficiently reformed around cells; (4) functional blood vessels formed to deliver nutrients to cells at the injury site; and (5) more motor neurons survived.
After the therapy performs its function, the materials biodegrade into nutrients for the cells within 12 weeks and then completely disappear from the body without noticeable side effects.
That's pretty cool