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On the hunt for genes involved in regenerating critical nerve fibers called axons, biologists at the University of California San Diego came away with a surprise: The discovery of a new genetic pathway that carries hope for victims of traumatic injuries -- from stroke to spinal cord damage.
UC San Diego Biological Sciences Assistant Project Scientist Kyung Won Kim, Professor Yishi Jin and their colleagues conducted a large-scale genetic screening in the roundworm C. elegans seeking ultimately to understand genetic influences that might limit nerve regrowth in humans. Unexpectedly, the researchers found the PIWI-interacting small RNA (piRNA) pathway -- long believed to be restricted to function in the germline -- plays an active role in neuron damage regeneration.
The discovery is published online Jan. 25, 2018 in the journal Neuron.
"This came as a total surprise," said Jin, Chair of the Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biological Sciences, and a member of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine in UC San Diego's School of Medicine. "piRNA wasn't anywhere on our radar, but now we are convinced that it is a new pathway that functions in neurons and, with some work, could offer therapeutic targets for helping neurons do better against injury."
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 28 2018, @02:40PM (1 child)
Back when my mother was teaching biology in the 1970s, nerve cells didn't regenerate in adults - they replicated in the very young, then grew in size, and if they were cut, that was it: the damage was permanent.
Then, by the 1980s: high-school science said that nerves could regrow naturally, but slowly - which was good news for the nerve I severed in my hand in 1983 (and, it did slowly recover).
Well, guys, it's about damn time - with all the paralysis research over the last 40 years you would think that more stuff like this would have cropped up by now.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Sunday January 28 2018, @03:40PM
I can sympathize with you on this. My wife suffers from a major medical issue which ultimately will result in her death long before a normal life expectancy. We keep seeing medical advances and potential new treatments, the discovery of which seem to be accelerating as the years go by, yet none of them will be of any use to her. But we can take some small measure of comfort for those who are being diagnosed with her condition today, because there are now significant opportunities to slow the advance of her condition that were not available when she could have benefited from them.
The fact that this latest discovery was completely unexpected and - although it is still years away from being usefully exploited - might produce treatments that we had not imagined possible is still significant. I only hope that big pharma doesn't take this new discovery, extend it, and then lock it away behind patents and high charges for drugs that will mean that those needing treatment will be unable to receive it.