Repair of spinal cord injuries: where are we, where are we going?

Repairing the spinal cord has for a long time been a 'holy grail' for neuroscientists. No achievement in neuroscience is more difficult to achieve, and none would have the same impact amongst the medical profession and the public. Yet no patient has yet benefited from a regeneration therapy. At last sufficient progress has been made in the basic science of axon regeneration that treatments that would partially repair a spinal injury are imminent. A full repair of spinal injury still remains elusive. This review summarises progress to date, and suggests ways in which progress towards treatment of spinal injury patients might be made.