Enzyme offers improved treatment of spinal cord injuriesRSS Feed

A new treatment of spinal cord injuries using an enzyme to stimulate nerve cell growth offers the hope of better treatment of patients.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US found that rats with spinal cord injuries injected with the enzyme sialidase showed a marked improvement after five weeks.

The rats' spinal cords were injected with the enzyme for a period of two weeks and then allowed to recover for a further three weeks.

Sialidase was shown by the team to improve nerve regrowth, motor recovery and nervous system function.

Ronald Schnaar, a professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences at the university, said: "Sialidase has properties that are appealing from the human drug development point of view."

He added that full toxicity studies had not yet been carried out to see whether the enzyme could be used as viable treatment for humans, claiming that "efficacy in animals ... doesn't necessarily translate to humans".

The news comes shortly after a Canadian biotechnology firm was granted a US patent for a new stem cell treatment of spinal cord injuries.

Serious Law, leading spinal cord injury solicitors

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