Peripheral nerve regeneration research and science with Karim Sarhane in 2022? One-fifth to one-third of patients with traumatic injuries to their arms and legs experience nerve injury, which can be devastating. It can result in muscle weakness or numbness, prevent walking or using the arms, and reduce the ability to perform daily activities. Even with surgery, some nerve injuries never recover, and currently there are not many medical options to address this problem. In 2022, the researchers plan to perform this research on more primates to triple the size of the original group. The study can then move into phase I clinical trials for humans.

During his research time at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Sarhane was involved in developing small and large animal models of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation. He was also instrumental in building The Peripheral Nerve Research Program of the department, which has been very productive since then. In addition, he completed an intensive training degree in the design and conduct of Clinical Trials at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Despite the well-documented positive effects of IGF-1 in the setting of PNI, the major obstacle for clinical translation remains the lack of a practical delivery system that offers tunable and sustained release of bioactive IGF-1 targeted to nerve and muscle tissue downstream of the nerve injury. Such a delivery system would avoid the potential risks and side effects associated with systemic IGF-1 administration and provide a practical means of applying this treatment for both patients and clinicians (Contreras et al., 1995). The ideal IGF-1 delivery system should also demonstrate biocompatibility without inducing inflammation or encapsulation over time. In addition to the pre-soaked IGF-1 eluting hydrogels detailed in Table 6, several bioengineering approaches to local IGF-1 delivery have recently been reported in animal models. Notable amongst these studies are a delivery system which makes use of biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)/graphene oxide (GO) nanofibers embedded with immobilized IGF-1 for spinal cord repair, as well as a system of IGF-1 loaded polymeric PLGA microspheres for use in bilateral cavernous nerve injury (Santos et al., 2016; Haney et al., 2019; Pan et al., 2019).

Effects by sustained IGF-1 delivery (Karim Sarhane research) : To realize the therapeutic potential of IGF-1 treatment for PNIs, we designed, optimized, and characterized a novel local delivery system for small proteins using a new FNP-based encapsulation method that offers favorable encapsulation efficiency with retained bioactivity and a sustained release profile for over 3 weeks. The IGF-1 NPs demonstrated favorable in vivo release kinetics with high local loading levels of IGF-1 within target muscle and nerve tissue.

The amount of time that elapses between initial nerve injury and end-organ reinnervation has consistently been shown to be the most important predictor of functional recovery following PNI (Scheib and Hoke, 2013), with proximal injuries and delayed repairs resulting in worse outcomes (Carlson et al., 1996; Tuffaha et al., 2016b). This is primarily due to denervation-induced atrophy of muscle and Schwann cells (SCs) (Fu and Gordon, 1995).

We comprehensively reviewed the literature for original studies examining the efficacy of IGF-1 in treating PNI. We queried the PubMed and Embase databases for terms including “Insulin-Like Growth Factor I,” “IGF1,” “IGF-1,” “somatomedin C,” “PNIs,” “peripheral nerves,” “nerve injury,” “nerve damage,” “nerve trauma,” “nerve crush,” “nerve regeneration,” and “nerve repair.” Following title review, our search yielded 218 results. Inclusion criteria included original basic science studies utilizing IGF-1 as a means of addressing PNI. Following abstract review, 56 studies were sorted by study type and mechanism of delivery into the following categories: (1) in vitro, (2) in vivo endogenous upregulation of IGF-1, or (3) in vivo delivery of exogenous IGF-1. Studies included in the in vivo exogenous IGF-1 group were further sub-stratified into systemic or local delivery, and the local IGF-1 delivery methods were further sub-divided into free IGF-1 injection, hydrogel, or mini-pump studies. Following categorization by mechanism of IGF-1 delivery, the optimal dosage range for each group was calculated by converting all reported IGF-1 dosages to nM for ease of comparison using the standard molecular weight of IGF-1 of 7649 Daltons. After standardization of dosages to nM, the IGF-1 concentration reported as optimal from each study was used to calculate the overall mean, median, and range of optimal IGF-1 dosage for each group.

Quality IGF-1 for nerve injuries studies from Karim Sarhane