New Discovery May Minimise Damage of Stroke

Researchers at the West Australian Stroke Research Group have discovered certain peptides are able to limit brain damage after a stroke.
With the National Stroke Foundation estimating the number of people having a stroke in Australia will rise from 50,000 a year to more than 130,000 by 2050, this new discovery is particularly exciting  as there are currently no neuroprotective treatments available after a stroke.
Adjunct Associate Professor Bruno Meloni and Clinical Professor Neville Knuckey (who is also Head of Neurosurgery at SCGH) led the WA Neuroscience Research Institute (WANRI) team behind these findings.
"It's an area that many researchers are no longer pursuing as everything has failed to date," said Adjunct Associate Professor Bruno Meloni, adding "some have lost hope that neuroprotection of this kind will ever become available.
“We have a different view and believe there is immense value in pursuing these significant new findings. While some of the brain injury occurs within minutes of a stroke occurring, which is obviously difficult to prevent, there is still the opportunity to minimise ongoing damaging processes which persist several hours and even days after a stroke."
WANRI's Stroke Research Group began researching the neuroprotective properties of poly-arginine peptides in 2012 and recently completed their first lab-based animal stroke study with one of the peptides (R9) securing highly promising results.
This study showed how a particular peptide can reduce brain injury when administered 30 minutes after the onset of a stroke. Even more recent studies are returning similarly positive results when treatment is given one hour after a stroke. (Future trials will look to extend this timing even further).
Clinical Professor David Blacker, WANRI's Medical Director and a neurologist and stroke physician at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, said the impact of stroke and the limited treatments currently available to sufferers makes these findings compelling.
"These promising discoveries by Professors Meloni and Knuckey offer welcome news in the challenging field of stroke research" said Professor Blacker. "We need to see more investment in research like this as the prevalence of stroke within our community continues to rise."
* Within the New England Journal of Medicine.