REVIEW article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Cell and Gene Therapy
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1604502
Chondroitinase ABC in Spinal Cord Injury: Advances in Delivery Strategies and Therapeutic Synergies
Provisionally accepted
Rachel Santana Cunha1Erik Aranha Rossi1,2
Thaís Alves de Santana1Zaquer Suzana Munhoz Costa-Ferro1
Bruno Solano De Freitas Souza1,2*- 1D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2Gonçalo Moniz Institute (IGM), Salvador, Brazil
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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a debilitating condition that leads to permanent neurological deficits due to the formation of a glial scar and the accumulation of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs), which inhibit axonal regeneration. Chondroitinase ABC (ChABC), a bacterial enzyme capable of degrading CSPGs, has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for enhancing neural plasticity and functional recovery after SCI. However, clinical translation remains challenging due to the enzyme's thermal instability, short half-life, and limited penetration into the lesion site. This review provides a comprehensive overview of current strategies for ChABC delivery, including direct infusion, nanoparticles, hydrogels, scaffolds, viral vectors, and stem cell-based approaches. We highlight recent technological advances that improve enzyme stability, targeting, and sustained release, as well as combinatorial therapies that enhance tissue regeneration. Although ChABC monotherapy has shown limited efficacy, its association with other regenerative approaches has demonstrated significant potential in preclinical models. Finally, we discuss the translational challenges and future directions required to bring ChABC-based therapies closer to clinical application in SCI patients.
Keywords: spinal cord injury, Chondroitinase ABC, neural regeneration, delivery, Gene Therapy, Nanotechnology, Stem Cell Therapy
Received: 02 Apr 2025; Accepted: 27 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cunha, Rossi, de Santana, Costa-Ferro and Souza. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Bruno Solano De Freitas Souza, Gonçalo Moniz Institute (IGM), Salvador, Brazil
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.