Scientists from Brown University have recently published work that may have identified a new opening to intervene in the process of healing peripheral nerve damage with the discovery that an "anti-sense" RNA (AS-RNA) that is expressed when nerves are injured. This work appears in Cell Reports.
Nikos Tapinos, associate professor of neurosurgery in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and senior author of the study said his team was able to control the expression of the AS-RNA in the lab and therefore the transcription factor Egr2 that prompts myelin-building Schwann cells into action. "Since the AS-RNA inhibits the expression of Egr2, which is the central transcriptional regulator of myelin genes, it is possible that inhibiting or regulating the levels of the AS-RNA will enhance the transcription of myelin-related genes and hence myelination," Tapinos notes.
The team not only found the AS-RNA, but also that its expression increases markedly and with specific timing after sciatic nerve injury. Then in later experiments, the team learned which molecules stimulate the expression of the AS-RNA and they also successfully interfered with its activity, which delayed demyelination.
The discovery offers up a new factor that can be manipulated to affect when myelin is removed and restored and by how much, Tapinos said. This gives him hope that with further research he might be able to translate the finding into a new therapy.
Image: Inducing expression of anti-sense RNA (right) inhibits the production of myelin (red) in mouse nerve cells compared to unaltered controls (on the left). The ability to control the newly discovered RNA might aid in efforts to promote nerve healing. Image courtesy of: Tapinos et. al.