美国加州大学Mark H. Tuszynski课题组的最新研究提出了神经干细胞移植修复灵长类脊髓损伤前肢功能。这一研究成果于2025年11月17日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《自然—生物技术》上。

在这里，课题组人员试图通过移植临床相容的来自人胚胎干细胞（H9-scNSCs）的脊髓神经干细胞来改善功能结果。在脊髓半横断模型中，与病变对照组相比，H9-scNSCs移植使受试者的精细手部功能测试结果显著提升了9.2倍（P=2.5×10^-27），其精细物体抓取成功率达到了53.4±19.2%；在脊髓半挫伤模型中，移植组的功能恢复程度较对照组高出2.9倍（P=6.3×10^-8）。功能恢复程度与康复训练强度呈正相关。移植细胞向损伤区以下延伸了长达39毫米的数十万条新生轴突，并与宿主神经环路形成突触连接。与先前的研究相比，病变填充率更高，分化的细胞命运分布更接近于正常脊髓，这可能使观察到的优越的功能结果成为可能。

据了解，细胞治疗脊髓损伤的研究尚未实现足够的功能恢复。以往的研究主要是移植少突胶质细胞祖细胞、非脊髓神经干细胞或原代脊髓神经祖细胞。

附：英文原文

Title: Extensive restoration of forelimb function in primates with spinal cord injury by neural stem cell transplantation

Author: Sinopoulou, Eleni, Rosenzweig, Ephron S., Brock, John H., Kumamaru, Hiromi, Salegio, Ernesto A., Castle, Michael J., Weber, Janet L., Wurr, Rachele, Macon, Ryan, Chow, Michelle W., Huie, J. Russell, Kyritsis, Nikos, Havton, Leif A., Nout-Lomas, Yvette S., Sparrey, Carolyn J., Ferguson, Adam R., Beattie, Michael S., Bresnahan, Jacqueline C., Tuszynski, Mark H.

Issue&Volume: 2025-11-17

Abstract: Research on cell therapy for spinal cord injury has yet to achieve sufficient functional recovery. Previous studies in the field grafted oligodendrocyte progenitors, nonspinal neural stem cells or primary spinal neural progenitors. Here we sought to improve functional outcomes by grafting clinically compatible spinal cord neural stem cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (H9-scNSCs). H9-scNSCs significantly improved functional outcomes on a skilled hand task 9.2-fold (P=2.5×1027) in hemisected subjects compared with lesioned controls, achieving a fine object retrieval success of 53.4±19.2%, and 2.9-fold (P=6.3×108) superior to controls in hemicontused subjects. Recovery correlated with rehabilitation effort. Grafts extended up to hundreds of thousands of new axons into host circuits up to 39mm below the injury, forming synapses with host circuitry. Lesion fill was substantially higher and differentiated cell-fate distributions were much closer to that of the normal spinal cord than in previous studies using primary spinal cord cells, likely enabling the observed superior functional outcomes.

DOI: 10.1038/s41587-025-02865-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-025-02865-9