Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Promotion of Survival and Differentiation of Neural Stem Cells with Fibrin and Growth Factor Cocktails after Severe Spinal Cord Injury
Published on: July 27, 2014
SUMOylation promotes survival and integration of neural stem cell grafts in ischemic stroke
Joshua D Bernstock1, Luca Peruzzotti-Jametti2, Tommaso Leonardi2
1Stroke Branch, National Institutes of Health (NINDS/NIH), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, MD, USA; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK.
Background:
Neural stem cell (NSC)-based therapies hold great promise for treating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). However, several fundamental problems still need to be overcome to fully exploit the clinical potential of NSC therapeutics. Chief among them is the limited survival of NSC grafts within hostile microenvironments.
Methods:
Herein, we sought to engineer NSCs in an effort to increase graft survival within ischemic brain lesions via upregulation of global SUMOylation, a post-translational modification critically involved in mediating tolerance to ischemia/reperfusion.
Findings:
NSCs overexpressing the SUMO E2-conjugase Ubc9 displayed resistance to oxygen-glucose-deprivation/restoration of oxygen/glucose (OGD/ROG) and enhanced neuronal differentiation in vitro, as well as increased survival and neuronal differentiation when transplanted in mice with transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in vivo.
Interpretation:
Our work highlights a critical role for SUMOylation in NSC biology and identifies a biological pathway that can be targeted to increase the effectiveness of exogenous stem cell medicines in ischemic stroke. FUND: Intramural Research Program of the NINDS/NIH, the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Foundation (FISM), the Bascule Charitable Trust, NIH-IRTA-OxCam and Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowships.
Related Concept Videos
The Eukaryotic Promoter Region
Adult Stem Cells
Embryonic Stem Cells
Survival Tree
Building a Survival Tree
Constructing a...
Survival Curves
The Kaplan-Meier estimator is the most common method for constructing survival curves. This...
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

