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Project

Disturbed lipid processing skews foamy macrophages to a disease-promoting phenotype in MS (R-10468)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative autoimmune disease of the central nervous system in which microglia and infiltrated macrophages play a crucial role. Driving these phagocytes towards an anti-inflammatory and regenerative phenotype is considered a promising strategy to halt MS disease progression. Myelin-containing foamy phagocytes are the most abundant immune cell subtype in active MS lesions. To date, however, the impact that they have on MS lesion progression remains largely unclear. Our preliminary data now indicate that prolonged intracellular accumulation of myelin-derived lipids skews phagocytes towards a disease-promoting phenotype. By using well-established animal models for neuroinflammation and CNS repair, we unravel in this project whether targeting the intracellular breakdown of lipids represents a promising therapeutic intervention for MS.
Date:1 Jan 2020 →  31 Dec 2022
Keywords:foamy macrophages, Lipophagy, multiple sclerosis
Disciplines:Autoimmunity, Neurological and neuromuscular diseases