Project

Role of activated fibroblastic stromal cells in relapsing-remitting experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Automatically Closed ยท 2015 until 2016

Type
Fundamental Research
Range
Monocentric project at KSSG
Units
Status
Automatically Closed
Start Date
2015
End Date
2016
Financing
Others
Keywords
Multiple Sclerosis, CNS, Stromazellen
Brief description/objective

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) resulting in demyelination, axonal loss and consequential clinical impairment. In addition, the presence of meningeal inflammatory infiltrates in the progressive MS brain suggests that there may be a dual contribution of ongoing neurodegeneration and sustained immune responses that contribute to disease progression. While the exact cell types and molecular cues promoting the formation of such ectopic lymphoid follicle-like structures in the meninges remain unclear, several lines of evidence, including our own, suggest that maturation of meningeal stromal cells may be one of the initiating cues for establishing and sustaining a niche for lymphocyte recruitment and activation within the CNS. In order to trace and genetically manipulate activated fibroblastic stromal cells in vivo, our laboratory has established mouse models that utilize promoters of the constitutive chemokines CCL19 or CXCL13 to drive Cre recombinase expression.