Interferon-Beta: Mode of Action in EAE

jerry submitted, created time 6 months 4 days (www.immunity.com)

Interferon-β (IFN-β) is widely used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of how it suppresses autoimmunity in the central nervous system is unknown. Researchers find that IFN-β in the brain acts primarily on myeloid cells such as macrophages and microglia to suppress inflammation by blocking several important functions

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What came first, the plaque or the damaged neuron?

Darkfrog submitted, created time 9 months 3 weeks (www.nature.com)

By using cranial window surgery in lab mice, researchers from Harvard Medical have managed to figure out whether it is the neuron damage that causes (or at least precedes) the plaque in Alzheimer's patients or the other way around.

The results imply that it is the plaques that cause microglial accumulation, and that the microglia restrain the growth of these plaques.

The part that seems most interesting to me is the speed at which the plaques form. Very rarely do discussions of the studies talk about the speed

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: plaques microglia Alzheimers disease Alzheimers causality causation