Engineered immunological niches to monitor disease activity and treatment efficacy in relapsing multiple sclerosis.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32747712.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-17629-z and PMC identifier 7398910.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Relapses in multiple sclerosis can result in irreversible nervous system tissue injury. If these events could be detected early, targeted immunotherapy could potentially slow disease progression. We describe the use of engineered biomaterial-based immunological niches amenable to biopsy to provide insights into the phenotype of innate immune cells that control disease activity in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. Differential gene expression in cells from these niches allow monitoring of disease dynamics and gauging the effectiveness of treatment. A proactive treatment regimen, given in response to signal within the niche but before symptoms appeared, substantially reduced disease. This technology offers a new approach to monitor organ-specific autoimmunity, and represents a platform to analyze immune dysfunction within otherwise inaccessible target tissues.
Medical subject headings
- Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental
- Immunotherapy
- Monitoring, Physiologic
- Multiple Sclerosis