Chemokines and their receptors：important mediators to be aware of in neuroregenerative approaches for spinal cord injury

Curative therapy for spinal cord injury (SCI) remains elusive, however identifying options for tailored treatment strategies is in full swing. Like in the brain there are distinct regions in the adult spinal cord that harbor neural progenitor cells (NPCs) (Horner et al., 2000). This offers the possibility of recruiting these cells in reparative approaches to support endogenous spinal cord regenerative capacities. Hereby, one challenge among many others is to overcome the already restrictive microenvironment of potential endogenous NPCs, which is considerably altered by ongoing secondary lesion cascades by the initial lesion. Research addressing this aspect identified a plethora of mediators that hinder or promote neuroregeneration where at inflammatory mediators are known to play an essential role.