Topic
How the peripheral adaptive immune system surveils and interacts with the central nervous system, including CNS border compartments.
Cleveland Clinic researchers report that deleting or disabling microglial MyD88 prevented alcohol-driven extracellular matrix breakdown in the brain. Human post-mortem frontal cortex showed the same matrix loss; no human MyD88 test is described.
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Washington University researchers report that a CXCR3-blocking antibody halved brain T cells and spared 40% more memory-region tissue in tauopathy mice. Tau levels never fell, evidence the immune reaction to tau does much of the killing.
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Migraine with aura has been tied to higher stroke and heart attack risk for years without anyone showing how. Four newly funded projects go after the cell biology, and the flagship one starts in the laboratory.
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The WashU group reports in Nature that the structures activate in mice before distant lymph nodes get the signal, and that a gel of three immune proteins placed under the scalp boosted the antitumor response.
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In a cohort sampled before and after an Afghanistan deployment, the top quartile for the antibody reported about 25% lower depression and 22% lower PTSD symptom scores after a lifetime head injury. Mouse work offers a size-based explanation.
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Researchers report in Nature that mouse skull bone marrow holds germinal-centre-like lymphoid structures that respond to CNS antigens and help drive anti-tumour immunity.
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