Research led by The University of Queensland and Mater Research has uncovered the cause of bone growths in patients with severe spinal cord and brain injuries and identified existing drugs to prevent the debilitating condition.
Dr Kylie Alexander from MRI-UQ said neurogenic heterotopic ossification affects around 20 per cent of patients who suffer spinal cord injuries and can lead to a complete loss of movement in the affected joints.
“Heterotopic ossification is a serious but common problem among patients who have suffered traumatic spinal and brain injuries,” Dr Alexander said.
“It is especially likely to affect soldiers who are wounded in action, however most Australian patients with the condition have typically been in a vehicle crash, or sport or workplace accident.
“It is a horrible condition to be afflicted with following a serious injury, with long and delicate surgeries to cut away bone growth the only available treatment and sometimes the condition recurs after surgery.”
The condition was first documented during the First World War, via x-ray scans, which revealed masses of bones growing around the joints of soldiers who had survived traumatic spinal and brain injuries on the battlefield.
Professor Jean-Pierre Levesque said the stress hormone cortisol, which spikes following brain and spinal injuries has been identified as the trigger for neurogenic heterotopic ossification.
“We found that if a cortisol spike happens at the same time that a muscle injury occurs the body’s normal repair program is derailed and instead of repairing the muscle tissue the body grows bone,” Professor Levesque said.
“The good news is drugs which block cortisol receptors, which have been around for decades, can effectively prevent ossification if administered soon after spinal and brain injuries occur.
“Our study also found that cortisol mimetics, which are widely used as strong anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce the neuroinflammation caused by spinal cord injury, have the potential to worsen heterotopic ossification in patients.
“We hope to further this research by investigating the genetic and cellular mechanisms through which cortisol causes joint ossification.
“The aim is to initiate clinical trials of a treatment for neurogenic heterotopic ossification in the next two to three years, involving spinal cord units at hospitals in Australia, the US and Europe.”
The 10-year study, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, US Department of Defense and Mater Foundation also involved clinicians based at the Raymond-Poincaré Hospital and scientists from INSERM Armies Biomedical Research Institute in Paris, France.
The research was published in Cell Reports Medicine.
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UQ Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences Communications
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