SP Genes Found for Limb Regeneration

Scientists from Wake Forest University, Duke University, and the United States — University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents have collaborated on a groundbreaking study identifying SP genes as universal drivers of limb regeneration across axolotls, zebrafish, and mice. Joshua D. Currie's lab at Wake Forest University used CRISPR to demonstrate the necessity of SP8 in axolotl limb regeneration. David A. Brown's lab at Duke University developed a viral gene therapy that partially restored digit regeneration in mice by delivering FGF8, a molecule activated by SP genes. This research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, lays a foundational blueprint for future gene therapies aimed at regrowing human limbs, offering hope for over 1 million annual amputees globally.