Monocytes facilitate the manifestations of Alzheimer's disease

Scientists from the Cedars-Sinai Research Center, working under the guidance of Associate Professor Maya Koronyo-Hamaoui, have successfully tested two new experimental methods of treating Alzheimer's disease on a mouse model. The new methods are based on the regulation of immune reactions in the brain with the help of monocytes isolated from the bone marrow – the most active of the phagocytes ("eater cells") of the immune system of the blood and a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis.

The authors note that the brain's own immune cells play an important role in ensuring its normal functioning. However, in Alzheimer's disease, these cells also suffer from the toxic effects of beta-amyloid and gradually not only cease to perform their direct functions, but also contribute to the development of a destructive inflammatory reaction associated with the disease.

The experimental approaches proposed by the researchers are designed to restore a normal immune response in brain tissue by attracting monocytes to the brain that can effectively attack toxic protein aggregates and maintain the viability of interneuronal contacts or synapses. 

One of these approaches is to isolate monocytes of a certain type from the bone marrow of young mice and then inject them into the tail vein of a sick animal once a month. The second approach involves weekly subcutaneous administration of glatiramer acetate, a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. This drug promotes the migration of leukocytes from the bloodstream to the brain.

As part of the experiments, the researchers injected one group of mice with a suspension of donor monocytes, the second group with glatiramer acetate, and the third group was subjected to two therapeutic approaches at once. As a result, animals of all three groups showed a significant decrease in the severity of symptoms and pathological manifestations of Alzheimer's disease.

In all three cases, the therapy provided effective attraction of monocytes to the brain damage zones, removal of protein aggregates and suppression of inflammatory processes due to the secretion of compounds regulating the course of immune reactions at the molecular level.

Article by Y. Koronyo et al. Therapeutic effects of glatiramer acetate and grafted CD115 monocytes in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease is published in the journal Brain.

Evgeniya Ryabtseva

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