UVA Finds Trigger for Protective Immune Response to Spinal Cord Injury

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Hot on the heels of discovering a protective form of immune response to spinal cord injury, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have pinpointed the biological trigger for that response a vital step toward being able to harness the bodys defenses to improve treatment for spine injuries, brain trauma, Alzheimers disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Sounding the Alarm The trigger for the immune response, the molecule interleukin-33, is concentrated in what is known as white matter in the healthy brain and spinal cord. Interleukin-33, the researchers have discovered, is released upon injury and activates cells called glia, beginning the bodys protective response and promoting recovery. Its the first thing that tells the immune system that somethings been damaged, explained UVAs Sachin Gadani, the lead author of a new paper outlining the discovery. Its how the immune system initially knows to respond.

The researchers arent sure if interleukin-33 has other roles to play in addition to its role in injury response. Interleukin-33 must be important to the central nervous system. It is expressed all the time even in the healthy state and weve only described its activity after injury, said Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, professor in the Department of Neuroscience and director of the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia. From an evolutionary perspective it makes little sense. The system produces this constantly just in case of injury that may never come? Id be surprised if there was no function beyond injury. IL-33 may represent a language through which CNS is constantly talking with the immune system or, in other words, a molecular mind-body connection.

Effects on Injury Outcomes Kipnis noted that problems with interleukin-33 could contribute to poor outcomes after spine or brain injuries. Its possible that if theres some problem with this molecule in patients, they will have poor alarm signaling, and they will have very poor outcomes, he said.

The discovery also sheds light on previous findings connecting interleukin-33 to Alzheimers disease. Theres a huge link, Gadani said. Researchers have identified a strong connection between interleukin-33 and Alzheimers disease, and our work will pave the way for future studies on this topic.

Eventually, the findings could lead to both improved treatments and new diagnostic tests for brain and spinal cord injury, Alzheimers and other conditions.

Impressive Work Kipnis saluted Gadani for his contributions to the work contributions all the more impressive considering that Gadani is still a graduate student in UVAs Medical Scientist Training Program. He came in with this idea, and from the initial idea to the final paper, he drove the research. And hes only in his third year of graduate school, Kipnis said. Credit goes to our MST program that it is able to recruit such a high caliber of students.

Published in Neuron The findings have been published online by Neuron, a premier neuroscience journal for peer-reviewed research. The article was authored by Gadani, James T. Walsh, Igor Smirnov, Jingjing Zheng and Kipnis.

See the rest here:
UVA Finds Trigger for Protective Immune Response to Spinal Cord Injury