Designer protein makes mice walk again after severing of spine. Humans next?

Paralyzed mice at the top and mice injected with the protein bottom.

With a new therapeutic approach, scientists from the Department for Cell Physiology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) in Germany have succeeded for the first time in getting paralyzed mice to walk again. The nerve cells produced the curative protein themselves. To date, paralysis resulting from spinal cord damage has been irreparable. The keys to this is the protein hyper-interleukin-6, which stimulates nerve cells to regenerate, and the way it is supplied to the animals.

In their search for potential therapeutic approaches, the Bochum team identified the protein hyper-interleukin-6 after they induced nerve cells of the motor-sensory cortex to produce the protein themselves. Read more about this research HERE.