AI Discovery Could Improve Treatment of Spinal Cord Injuries

A team of researchers led by Rutgers University have found a way to use AI and robotics to formulate therapeutic proteins which, after setting off a domino reaction, help to degrade scar tissue formed after a spinal cord injury, or SCI. As we touched on last month, scar tissue resulting from SCI can act as roadblocks preventing the successful regeneration of nervous tissue. While the scar tissue serves a purpose in that it protects the trauma site, it reduces the injured person’s control over some or all of their body. This offers a bit of promise for SCI patients who would otherwise be fully mobile if it weren’t for the presence of heavy scar tissue.

Understanding this, the team began investigating which naturally-occurring enzymes had the ability to break down scar tissue and eventually settled on Chondroitinase ABC (ChABC), which promotes plasticity in the spinal cord. ChABC is relatively fragile though, lasting only a few hours before the body’s high internal temperature forces it to lose all activity. Maintaining an effective level of ChABC in a SCI patient with scar tissue would require multiple expensive high-dose infusions, which is far from practical for most.

Instead the team used AI paired with liquid handling robotics to test numerous copolymers’ ability to stabilize ChABC, making it able to endure the typical 98.6° F internal temperature for longer periods of time. While a handful of copolymers would have sufficed, one copolymer combination in particular proved capable of retaining 30 percent of the enzyme for up to a week. ChABC this long-lasting can be considered therapeutic and may help break down existing scar tissue in patients with mobility issues related to their SCI.

“This study represents one of the first times artificial intelligence and robotics have been used to formulate highly sensitive therapeutic proteins and extend their activity by such a large amount. It’s a major scientific achievement,” Adam Gormley, Rutgers School of Engineering assistant professor and the study’s principal investigator, told Rutgers reporters. “The therapy we are developing may someday help people such as my friend lessen the scar on their spinal cords and regain function. This is a great reason to wake up in the morning and fight to further the science and potential therapy.”