28 de Outubro de 1998
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- A drug being tested in the battle against cancer is showing promise for the treatment of spinal injuries, according to researchers at Vanderbilt University.
In the study, paralyzed mice regained their ability to walk after being treated with the anti-cancer compound CM101.
All but two of 26 paralyzed mice regained the ability to walk within 12 days. One mouse died, and the other remained paralyzed. The mice were given CM101 within one hour of being paralyzed and were given five subsequent doses of the drug every other day
In another experiment using a control group of 14 mice, none received the drug. Eight mice died and the other six did not regain the use of their paralyzed limbs.
The research is published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Drug used to fight cancer
The compound CM101 had been researched at Vanderbilt University as an anti-cancer drug because of its ability to prevent blood vessel growth. Tumors survive and grow by forming new blood vessel growth, and effective anti-cancer drugs block that process.
In the paralysis research, CM101 is thought to work by blocking new blood vessel growth that typically occurs as a result of inflammation after a spinal cord injury.
Researchers say the process prevents the formation of scar tissue and allows severed nerve cells to reconnect.
"IF CM101 can prevent neuronal degeneration in humans as it does in mice, then we should be able to do some good in acute spinal cord injury," said researcher Carl Hellerqvist, who authored the report along with Artur W. Wamil and Barbara W. Wamil.
However, some researchers point out that other drugs have worked well with animals and had no effect on humans.
"This is just a few mice, then you have to go to cats and perhaps primates and then ... to the human model," said Thomas H. Countee Jr., executive director of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association.
However, he said, he was encouraged by the research.
Testing on humans could begin next year
The Vanderbilt team hopes to begin testing CM101 on people with spinal injuries next year, since its use in cancer research has already shown the compound to be safe for humans, Hellerqvist said.
If CM101 does work on humans, it would be a big advantage over the experimental drug Sygen, which must be administered within hours of an spinal cord injury. Researchers hope to be able to give CM101 to patients within days of an injury.
Potential use of the compound on older spinal cord injuries would first require surgery to remove the scar tissue formed after the injury. Then, other drugs to encourage nerve cell regrowth would be needed, the researchers reported.
CM101 is licensed by Tennessee-based CarboMed Inc., which helped fund the study.
Each year, an estimated 10,000 people in the United States experience a spinal cord injury. Most injuries are the result of motor vehicle accidents, acts of violence, falls and sports injuries.
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