What is it about?
Stroke is the second leading cause of death globally. Ischemic stroke, the most common subtype, occurs when a blood vessel is blocked or occluded for a period of time. Current treatments for ischemic stroke are limited to blood-clot-degrading drugs or physical clot removal, which have a limited time window of effectiveness. In our study, we directly compared two promising investigational therapeutic approaches, which use recombinant proteins FGF18 and GDF11. Our findings demonstrate that, in an animal model of ischemic stroke, FGF18 appears potentially effective at increasing survival and restoring motor and brain function (cognition). Based on the study results, we believe that this therapeutic activity is driven by protection of nerve cells and improvement in their function following injury.
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Why is it important?
The study findings are important because stroke is a highly debilitating pathology that affects millions of people worldwide. Preclinical models can help direct future clinical research that may eventually lead to the development of new therapeutic interventions. Finally, mechanistic insights are particularly valuable as they offer the potential to better understand the disease and design new interventions that target alternative treatment pathways.
Perspectives
I have always been fascinated by neuroscience and especially the central nervous system (CNS). While the brain and the CNS can be affected by many diverse conditions, stroke is among the most debilitating and prevalent neurological disorders. Ischemic brain injury enacts a highly diverse molecular pathology, affecting a number of neurodegenerative pathways. On this backdrop, the findings from our study were particularly exciting as they offer not only a potential new therapeutic approach, but also mechanistic insights for the treatment of cerebral ischemia.
Alexei Goraltchouk
Remedium Bio, Inc.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Comparative evaluation of rhFGF18 and rhGDF11 treatment in a transient ischemia stroke model, Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, February 2024, IOS Press,
DOI: 10.3233/rnn-231347.
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