(Press-News.org) A team of basic and clinical scientists led by the University of Montreal Hospital* Research Centre's (CRCHUM) Dr. Nathalie Arbour has opened the door to significantly improved treatments for the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In a study selected as among the top 10% most interesting articles published in the Journal of Immunology, the team identifies the elevated presence in MS patients of a type of white blood cell (CD4 T cell) that expresses NKG2C, a highly-toxic molecule harmful to brain tissues.
In close collaboration with clinicians at the University of Montreal Hospital and the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Dr. Arbour's team studied tissues from healthy subjects and MS patients. This approach enabled the team to uncover a novel mechanism by which CD4 T cells expressing NKG2C can directly target brain cells having a specific corresponding ligand found only in MS patients. "These results are very encouraging," says Arbour, "since they provide us with a much more refined picture of how the brain cells of MS patients are targeted by the immune system and provide us with a clearer understanding of how to go about blocking their action."
There is no known cure for this auto-immune disease of the central nervous system. While there are a number of approved MS therapies targeting molecules expressed by immune cells, they are sometimes too broad in their application. They can suppress the efficiency of the immune system but also open the way for serious infections in some MS patients such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, a serious viral disease that can cause death in people with severe immune deficiency, such as MS patients on immunosuppressive medication.
"Our research has made an important step in getting around this problem. Because NKG2C is specifically expressed by a subset of CD4 T cells only found in MS patients, targeting this receptor would not affect large populations of immune cells, but only those which produce the symptoms characteristic of this debilitating disease," explains Arbour.
For patients this discovery could translate into improved treatments aimed at decreasing the progression of the disease and its symptoms, without the risk of potentially lethal infections and therefore improving their quality of life.
###
About Multiple Sclerosis
With more than 75,000 Multiple Sclerosis patients, Canada has one of the highest incidences of the disease in the world. The intrusion of the body's immune system into the brain affects the ability of neurons in the brain and in the spinal cord to communicate efficiently with one another, producing extensive and recurrent central nervous system damage. Multiple Sclerosis symptoms can include paralysis, pricking or numbness, visual problems, difficulties with coordination, balance and movement, which lead to chronic handicap.
About the study
"Cytotoxic NKG2C+ CD4 T Cells Target Oligodendrocytes in Multiple Sclerosis" was featured in the March 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology, where it was selected as being among the top 10% most interesting articles published in the journal. The research team included basic and clinical scientists from the University of Montreal Hospital and the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University.
About Dr. Nathalie Arbour
Dr. Arbour is a researcher in the Neuroscience Axis at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre and a Research Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, University of Montreal. Her research program is funded by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and she currently holds a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
About the CRCHUM
The University of Montreal Hospital* Research Centre (CRCHUM) improves the health of adults through a high-quality academic research continuum which, by improving our understanding of etiological and pathogenic mechanisms, fosters the development, implementation and assessment of new preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. The CRCHUM provides a training environment to ensure the development of new generations of researchers committed to research excellence.
*The University of Montreal Hospital and the University of Montreal are known officially as Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal and Université de Montréal, respectively.
About The Neuro
The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro, is a unique academic medical centre dedicated to neuroscience. A research and teaching institute of McGill University, The Neuro forms the basis for the Neuroscience Mission of the McGill University Health Centre. Founded in 1934 by Dr. Wilder Penfield, The Neuro is recognized internationally for integrating research, compassionate patient care and advanced training, all key to advances in science and medicine. Neuro researchers are world leaders in cellular and molecular neuroscience, brain imaging, cognitive neuroscience and the study and treatment of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and neuromuscular disorders.
Source :
Communication Division
Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)
END
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A research team led by biogeochemists at the University of California, Riverside has filled in a billion-year gap in our understanding of conditions in the early ocean during a critical time in the history of life on Earth.
It is now well accepted that appreciable oxygen first accumulated in the atmosphere about 2.4 to 2.3 billion years ago. It is equally well accepted that the build-up of oxygen in the ocean may have lagged the atmospheric increase by well over a billion years, but the details of those conditions have long been elusive because of ...
WASHINGTON -- A new National Research Council report finds that by the year 2050, the U.S. may be able to reduce petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent for light-duty vehicles -- cars and small trucks -- via a combination of more efficient vehicles; the use of alternative fuels like biofuels, electricity, and hydrogen; and strong government policies to overcome high costs and influence consumer choices. While achieving these goals will be difficult, improving technologies driven by strong and effective policies could make deep reductions possible.
"To ...
People suffering from complicated grief may have difficulty recalling specific events from their past or imagining specific events in the future, but not when those events involve the partner they lost, according to a new study published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The death of a loved one is among the most painful and disruptive experiences a person can face. For most, the grief subsides over time. But those who suffer from complicated grief continue to yearn for the lost loved one, experience waves of painful ...
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — New research suggests that elite athletes – Olympic medalists in volleyball, for example – perform better than the rest of us in yet another way. These athletes excel not only in their sport of choice but also in how fast their brains take in and respond to new information – cognitive abilities that are important on and off the court.
The study, of 87 top-ranked Brazilian volleyball players (some of them medalists in the Beijing and London Olympics) and 67 of their nonathletic contemporaries, also found that being an athlete minimizes the performance ...
18 March 2013 – Goleta, CA., USA -- The first truly global telescope came a significant step closer to completion this month with the installation and first light on three new 1-meter telescopes at the South Africa Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) near Sutherland, South Africa. A team of five Las Cumbres engineers, technicians, and a postdoc, convened at Sutherland for three weeks during late February and early March to achieve this feat.
"The South African Astronomical Observatory is pleased to collaborate with the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope project, and ...
Some diseases are caused by single gene mutations. Current techniques for identifying the disease-causing gene in a patient produce hundreds of potential gene candidates, making it difficult for scientists to pinpoint the single causative gene. Now, a team of researchers led by Rockefeller University scientists have created a map of gene "shortcuts" to simplify the hunt for disease-causing genes.
The investigation, spearheaded by Yuval Itan, a postdoctoral fellow in the St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, has led to the creation of what he calls ...
Microbes from the human mouth are telling Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists something about periodontitis and more after they cracked the genetic code of bacteria linked to the condition.
The finding, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, profiles the SR1 bacteria, a group of microbes present in many environments, ranging from the mouth to deep within the Earth, that have never been cultivated in the laboratory. Human oral SR1 bacteria are elevated in periodontitis, a disease marked by inflammation and infection of the ligaments and bones ...
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Large chunks of an ancient tectonic plate that slid under North America millions of years ago are still present under parts of central California and Mexico, according to new research led by Brown University geophysicists.
Around 100 million years ago, the Farallon oceanic plate lay between the converging Pacific and North American plates, which eventually came together to form the San Andreas fault. As those plates converged, much of the Farallon was subducted underneath North America and eventually sank deep into the mantle. Off ...
Infrared satellite imagery tells the temperature of the cloud tops within a tropical cyclone as well as the sea surface temperatures around the storms. A recent infrared image from NASA's Aqua satellite showed very little strength in the remnants of ex-cyclone Tim offshore from southeastern Queensland.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Cyclone Tim on March 18 at 0355 UTC (March 17 at 11:55 p.m. EDT). The AIRS image showed that cloud top temperatures had warmed significantly since the previous ...
A study in the JAMA Neurology (formerly the Archives of Neurology) suggests that controlling or preventing risk factors such as hypertension earlier in life may limit or delay the brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease and other age-related neurological deterioration.
Dr. Karen Rodrigue, assistant professor in the UT Dallas Center for Vital Longevity (CVL), was lead author on a study that looked at whether people with both hypertension and a common gene associated with risk of Alzheimer's disease (the APOE-4 gene carried by about 20 percent of the population) ...
