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Washington [US], June 4 (ANI): Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine have discovered that the immune cells that protect the brain and spinal cord come primarily from the skull. The finding opens up the possibility of developing therapies to target such cells as a way to prevent or treat brain conditions.
Immune cells in the meninges come from bone marrow in the skull and migrate to the brain through special channels without passing through the blood. These immune cells help to guard the brain and spinal cord against inflammation and infection.
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IMAGE: A newly developed B cell (green in middle of image) migrates from the bone marrow of the skull, where a cluster of other new B cells remain, then through the. view more
Credit: Simone Brioschi
The immune system is the brain s best frenemy. It protects the brain from infection and helps injured tissues heal, but it also causes autoimmune diseases and creates inflammation that drives neurodegeneration.
Two new studies in mice suggest that the double-edged nature of the relationship between the immune system and the brain may come down to the origins of the immune cells that patrol the meninges, the tissues that surround the brain and spinal cord. In complementary studies published June 3 in the journal
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Adamaged drainage system in the brain might be behind the spotty performance of some Alzheimer’s therapies, according to a study published April 28 in
Nature. Mice modeling the neurodegenerative disorder that received plaque-busting antibodies along with a treatment to stimulate the growth of lymphatic vessels in the brain saw many of their symptoms reversed. Mice with damaged lymphatics, on the other hand, didn’t respond as well to the antibodies. This suggests that dysfunctional lymphatics might hinder the performance of antibody-based immunotherapy, an approach that has had mixed results in clinical trials among Alzheimer’s patients.
“Whenever a paper provides us with a novel way to look at Alzheimer’s, such as this one does . . . it opens up a world of possibilities,” says Gabrielle Britton, a neuroscientist at the Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología in Panama who was not involved in the research. “The m