T cells attack neurons in MS

In a rare glimpse inside a diseased brain, researchers watch for the first time as immune cells directly attack neurons in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Published this week in linkurl:Immunity,;http://www.cell.com/immunity/home the surprising role of T helper cells in neurodegeneration may provide a novel therapeutic target for blocking neuron dysfunction in patients with MS.

Brain with MS lesions U.S. Brookhaven National Laboratory, linkurl:Wikimedia Commons;http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monthly_multiple_sclerosis_MRI.gif

"It's a beautiful paper," said linkurl:Howard Gendelman,;http://www.unmc.edu/pharmacology/gendelman/ chair of the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, who was not involved in the research. "Axonal degeneration is a big part of MS, but nobody knew until this paper what the mechanism was." MS was first described as a demyelinating disease in which immune cells in the brain attack the protective myelin sheath around axons, tearing it apart and slowing or stopping nerve signals, leading to muscle...