Investigators at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and the University of Michigan, have identified in mice a new type of immune cell, which their in vivo studies showed can rescue damaged nerve cells from death and partially reverse nerve fiber damage. The scientists also identified a human immune cell line that exhibits similar characteristics, and which promotes nervous system repair.

They suggest that the findings may point to new strategies for enabling recovery from degenerative neurological diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as from damage caused by traumatic brain and spine injuries and stroke. “This immune cell subset secretes growth factors that enhance the survival of nerve cells following traumatic injury to the central nervous system,” said Benjamin Segal, MD, professor and chair of the department of neurology at the Ohio State College of Medicine and co-director of the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center’s Neurological Institute. “It stimulates severed nerve fibers to regrow in the central nervous system, which is really unprecedented. In the future, this line of research might ultimately lead to the development of novel cell-based therapies that restore lost neurological functions across a range of conditions.”