The deactivation of a single gene could significantly improve long-term recovery in people with spinal cord injuries, according to a study conducted by the University of Maryland at Baltimore (USA) published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The findings open the way to developing new treatments for spinal injuries, which often result in damage that remain throughout life, because half of those affected are considered paraplegic.

The researchers explain that a sudden shock and traumatic spinal bone can fracture or dislocate the vertebrae, which in turn can crush and destroy axons, the branches of the nerve cells that carry signals along the spinal cord between the brain and the rest of the body.

In an attempt to protect them after injury, the bone often causes more damage to their own cells. The SUR1 gene ABCC8 active after injury, a protein that is part of a defense mechanism that tries to protect cells from death caused by a sudden excess of calcium. SUR1 sodium contributes to the situation, which helps decrease the amount of calcium entering cells. However, serious injuries this protective mechanism is affected and SUR1 protein goes awry, leading to an unwanted sodium influx that leads to destruction and cell death.

The scientists, led by Marc Simard, studied spinal cord tissues of humans, mice and rats after spinal cord injury and found that the same mechanisms of cell death and tissue destruction in SUR1 involved are active in all three species.

By disabling the ABCC8 gene encoding SUR1 protein researchers were able to stop self-destructive process and improve long-term recovery in mice with damaged spinal damage.

In addition, the authors showed that in rats, short-term suppression of an oligodeoxynucleotide ABCC8 gene, a single strand of DNA that binds to specific genes and temporarily blocks its activation resulted in a far less damage after injury.
The study shows that treating patients as soon as possible after spinal cord injury using the technique of oligodeoxynucleotide to mute the ABCC8 gene could reduce the global destruction of tissue following spinal cord injury and improve long-term recovery.