Investigational agents for treatment of traumatic brain injury.
BACKGROUND
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. To date, there are no pharmacologic agents proven to improve outcomes from TBI because all the Phase III clinical trials in TBI have failed. Thus, there is a compelling need to develop treatments for TBI.


METHODS
The following article provides an overview of select cell-based and pharmacological therapies under early development for the treatment of TBI. These therapies seek to enhance cognitive and neurological functional recovery through neuroprotective and neurorestorative strategies.


CONCLUSIONS
TBI elicits both complex degenerative and regenerative tissue responses in the brain. TBI can lead to cognitive, behavioral, and motor deficits. Although numerous promising neuroprotective treatment options have emerged from preclinical studies that mainly target the lesion, translation of preclinical effective neuroprotective drugs to clinical trials has proven challenging. Accumulating evidence indicates that the mammalian brain has a significant, albeit limited, capacity for both structural and functional plasticity, as well as regeneration essential for spontaneous functional recovery after injury. A new therapeutic approach is to stimulate neurovascular remodeling by enhancing angiogenesis, neurogenesis, oligodendrogenesis, and axonal sprouting, which in concert, may improve neurological functional recovery after TBI.
Henry Ford Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery , Education and Research Building, Room 3096, 2799 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit, MI 48202 , USA +1 313 916 4743 ; +1 313 916 9855 ; yxiong1@hfhs.org.
Ye
Y
Xiong
Yanlu
Y
Zhang
Asim
A
Mahmood
Michael
M
Chopp
D000818:Animals; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D015195:Drug Design; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D015507:Drugs, Investigational / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000187:drug effects; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D015507:Drugs, Investigational; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents
angiogenesis; cell therapy; exosomes; microRNAs; neurogenesis; neuroprotection; neurorestoration; traumatic brain injury