Vaccine Development Unforeseen Role Of Immune Response In Neurological Repair Could Lead To Vaccine
2001 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com) --
by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -
Macrophages and T cells can stop the spread of damage after central nervous system injury, report Weizmann Institute of Science researchers.
Immune activity was heretofore considered at best a neutral player in the central nervous system (CNS), and at worst destructive. But now Michal Schwartz and colleagues propose that within strictly controlled conditions, immune response can heal.
"A recent study in our laboratory showed, against all expectations, that macrophages and a particular type of T-cell, by promoting re-growth and reducing the post-traumatic spread of damage in the injured rat optic nerve or spinal cord, have a beneficial effect on the injured CNS," noted Schwartz and associates.
Macrophages can repair cells and specific T cells can reduce the spread of damage in rats with CNS injury, Schwartz and team found.
Spontaneous generation of these immune activities following injury, however, is limited. Immune response must be manipulated under strictly controlled conditions for effectiveness ("Beneficial immune activity after CNS injury: Prospects for vaccination," Journal of Neuroimmunology, 2001;113(2):185-192).
"It thus appears that (i) a stress signal transmitted from the traumatized tissue (in this case the CNS) for recruitment of the adaptive immune system does not have to be pathogen-related in order to evoke a response, (ii) a response to self is not necessarily a quirk of nature, and (iii) an autoimmune response, provided that it is well-regulated, helps the individual to cope with stress signals from the traumatized CNS, and thus plays a role in maintenance of the injured tissue without posing a threat to the organism," concluded Schwartz et al.
The corresponding author for this study is Michal Schwartz, Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Neuroimmunology, IL-76100 Rehovot, Israel.
Key points reported in this study include:
• Researchers challenged current thinking that autoimmune responses in the central nervous system are not benign and are usually destructive
• This study found that macrophages can promote repair and T cells reduce the spread of neurological damage, but only under certain well-controlled conditions
• This therapeutic immune enhancement offers a potential for development of vaccine therapy for neurological injury This article was prepared by Pain & Central Nervous System Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2001, Pain & Central Nervous System Week via NewsRx.com. |
