{"id":220496,"date":"2024-10-28T13:47:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T17:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=220496"},"modified":"2025-03-07T09:56:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T14:56:42","slug":"uconn-researchers-working-to-extinguish-inflammatory-fire-stroke-causes-in-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2024\/10\/uconn-researchers-working-to-extinguish-inflammatory-fire-stroke-causes-in-the-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Researchers Working to Extinguish \u2018Inflammatory Fire\u2019 Stroke Causes in the Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been more than three decades, but still there are only two treatments for a stroke: either rapid use of a clot-busting medication called tPA or surgical removal of a clot from the brain with mechanical thrombectomy. However, only 5% to 13% percent of stroke cases are actually eligible for these interventions.<\/p>\n

\"Rajkumar
In his research laboratory at UConn School of Medicine, Rajkumar Verma Ph.D., of the Department of Neuroscience and the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at UConn Health (Tina Encarnacion\/UConn Health photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe need to be persistent with our research to find a new therapy for stroke,\u201d says Rajkumar Verma, M.Pharm., Ph.D.<\/a>, assistant professor, Department of Neuroscience at UConn School of Medicine working in cross-campus collaboration with Professor Raman Bahal Ph.D. <\/a>of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the UConn School of Pharmacy. \u201cStroke research is hard and challenging to do. But without trying we won\u2019t make progress. We need to keep trying. UConn is determined to keep trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to being life-threatening, stroke is the major cause of long-term disability worldwide.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Professor Raman Bahal Ph.D. of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the UConn School of Pharmacy.(Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen a stroke strikes a patient, we don\u2019t have any treatment to offer to effectively repair the brain\u2019s damage. Once brain cells and tissue are damaged by a stroke, nothing can help restore the damage. In essence, the cascading inflammation caused by a stroke in the brain is like a fire in a house. We need to find a way to stop stroke\u2019s fire,\u201d says Verma.<\/p>\n

Verma and his multidisciplinary research team believe they have found a new innovative therapy to try to stop a stroke\u2019s \u201cfire\u201d or inflammation. This October they reported their new findings in the journal Molecular Therapy: Nucleic Acid.<\/a><\/p>\n

To try to more effectively control a stroke\u2019s damage and turn back time, UConn researchers are leveraging the power of micro-RNA (MiRNA), small molecules that regulate protein expression inside cells as they are able to control multiple proteins at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiRNAs are small RNA molecules that help cells to regulate multiple gene and protein expression,\u201d says Verma. \u201cUConn researchers discovered that during a stroke these MiRNA get dysregulated, thus leading to brain damage by multiple unchecked proteins. Also, our laboratory research has confirmed the presence of increased levels of one such MiRNA, known as miRNA-141-3p, in blood samples of stroke patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Novel
Novel gamma PNA based miRNA-141-3p inhibitors (syPNA-141) reduced brain damage (image on right with less atrophy) after stroke in mouse model of ischemic stroke. (Courtesy of Verma laboratory image).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Verma adds, \u201cWe are thrilled to report that we have successfully tested a novel MiRNA-141-3p inhibitor synthesized in our collaborator Dr. Bahal\u2019s lab<\/a> with the ability to reduce stroke damage and extinguish spreading inflammatory fire in the brain. In mouse models, we have seen swift restoration of once-lost motor function and memory. Also, we see a decrease in brain injury and enhanced expression of neuroprotective genes and growth factors fueling the brain\u2019s recovery from stroke.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new promising therapeutic modality developed to inhibit stroke is called anti-miR-141-3p<\/a>. UConn\u2019s medical school is currently working to commercialize the discovery and take it toward clinical trial testing as a future treatment option for stroke.<\/p>\n

Verma says UConn\u2019s research findings once again showcase the powerful tool of miRNA and the promise of their newly developed miRNA inhibitor\u2019s ability to stop the overexpression of dangerous, dysregulated bad proteins causing inflammation in the brain post-stroke.<\/p>\n

Verma came to the U.S. over a decade ago from India and continued his stroke research journey at UConn School of Medicine studying stroke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the big therapeutic gap in a new drug treatment for stroke to mitigate its brain damage and help with post-stroke recovery, and was motivated to try to fill this gap by learning more about stroke and by performing more translational research. I have chosen to stay at UConn for my stroke research, as UConn excels at this.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Verma is also driven to fight stroke personally.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people have a personal story or family member who has been personally impacted about stroke \u2013 including me,\u201d Verma shares. \u201cMy father died from a cardiovascular incident. We are not sure if it was in the brain or the heart. But this experience has led to my motivation for pursuing more stroke research.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World Stroke Day is on October 29 but all-year-round UConn is on a steadfast mission to find a new, future stroke treatment <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":220498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2460,2231,2407,2076,1868,1864,2235,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-220496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-health-well-being","category-lab-notes","category-research","category-meds","category-pharm","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 19:04:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220496"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220541,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220496\/revisions\/220541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/220498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220496"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=220496"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=220496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}