scholarly journals Neuroinflammation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia and the Interest of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to Study Immune Cells Interactions With Neurons

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elise Liu ◽  
Léa Karpf ◽  
Delphine Bohl

Inflammation is a shared hallmark between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). For long, studies were conducted on tissues of post-mortem patients and neuroinflammation was thought to be only bystander result of the disease with the immune system reacting to dying neurons. In the last two decades, thanks to improving technologies, the identification of causal genes and the development of new tools and models, the involvement of inflammation has emerged as a potential driver of the diseases and evolved as a new area of intense research. In this review, we present the current knowledge about neuroinflammation in ALS, ALS-FTD, and FTD patients and animal models and we discuss reasons of failures linked to therapeutic trials with immunomodulator drugs. Then we present the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology and its interest as a new tool to have a better immunopathological comprehension of both diseases in a human context. The iPSC technology giving the unique opportunity to study cells across differentiation and maturation times, brings the hope to shed light on the different mechanisms linking neurodegeneration and activation of the immune system. Protocols available to differentiate iPSC into different immune cell types are presented. Finally, we discuss the interest in studying monocultures of iPS-derived immune cells, co-cultures with neurons and 3D cultures with different cell types, as more integrated cellular approaches. The hope is that the future work with human iPS-derived cells helps not only to identify disease-specific defects in the different cell types but also to decipher the synergistic effects between neurons and immune cells. These new cellular tools could help to find new therapeutic approaches for all patients with ALS, ALS-FTD, and FTD.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Nicolini ◽  
Massimiliano Mazza

The interplay between the immune system and the pleural mesothelium is crucial both for the development of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) and for the response of MPM patients to therapy. MPM is heavily infiltrated by several immune cell types which affect the progression of the disease. The presence of organized tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) witness the attempt to fight the disease in situ by adaptive immunity which is often suppressed by tumor expressed factors. In rare patients physiological, pharmacological or vaccine-induced immune response is efficient, rendering their plasma a valuable resource of anti-tumor immune cells and molecules. Of particular interest are human antibodies targeting antigens at the tumor cell surface. Here we review current knowledge regarding MPM immune infiltration, MPM immunotherapy and the harnessing of this response to identify novel biologics as biomarkers and therapeutics through innovative screening strategies.


2006 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 832-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena A. Ostrakhovitch ◽  
Shawn S.-C. Li

The signaling lymphocyte-activating molecule (SLAM) family immunoreceptors are expressed in a wide array of immune cells, including both T and B lymphocytes. By virtue of their ability to transduce tyrosine phosphorylation signals through the so-called ITSM (immunoreceptor tyrosine-based switch motif) sequences, they play an important part in regulating both innate and adaptive immune responses. The critical role of the SLAM immunoreceptors in mediating normal immune reactions was highlighted in recent findings that SAP, a SLAM-associated protein, modulates the activities of various immune cells through interactions with different members of the SLAM family expressed in these cells. Importantly, mutations or deletions of the sap gene in humans result in the X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome. In this review, we summarize current knowledge and survey the latest developments in signal transduction events triggered by the activation of SLAM family receptors in different cell types.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharifah Anoar ◽  
Nathaniel S. Woodling ◽  
Teresa Niccoli

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are neurodegenerative disorders characterized by declining motor and cognitive functions. Even though these diseases present with distinct sets of symptoms, FTD and ALS are two extremes of the same disease spectrum, as they show considerable overlap in genetic, clinical and neuropathological features. Among these overlapping features, mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with both FTD and ALS. Recent studies have shown that cells derived from patients’ induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)s display mitochondrial abnormalities, and similar abnormalities have been observed in a number of animal disease models. Drosophila models have been widely used to study FTD and ALS because of their rapid generation time and extensive set of genetic tools. A wide array of fly models have been developed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of toxicity for mutations associated with FTD/ALS. Fly models have been often instrumental in understanding the role of disease associated mutations in mitochondria biology. In this review, we discuss how mutations associated with FTD/ALS disrupt mitochondrial function, and we review how the use of Drosophila models has been pivotal to our current knowledge in this field.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armita Mahdavi Gorabi ◽  
Mohsen Ghanbari ◽  
Thozhukat Sathyapalan ◽  
Tannaz Jamialahmadi ◽  
Amirhossein Sahebkar

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs containing around 22 nucleotides, which are expressed in vertebrates and plants. They act as posttranscriptional gene expression regulators, fine-tuning various biological processes in different cell types. There is emerging evidence on their role in different stages of atherosclerosis. In addition to regulating the inflammatory cells involved in atherosclerosis, miRNAs play fundamental roles in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis such as endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction, the aberrant function of the vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) and cholesterol metabolism. Moreover, miRNAs participate in several pathogenic pathways of atherosclerotic plaque development, including their effects on immune cell signaling receptors and lipid uptake. In this study, we review our current knowledge of the regulatory role of miRNAs in various pathogenic pathways underlying atherosclerosis development and also outline potential clinical applications of miRNAs in atherosclerosis.


Author(s):  
Elena Neumann ◽  
Klaus Frommer ◽  
Ulf Müller-Ladner

Adipokines, also called adipocytokines, are highly bioactive substances mainly expressed by adipose tissue. In addition to adipocytes, different cell types resident in various tissues produce adipokines under pathophysiological conditions. Adipokines include a growing number of pluripotent molecules such as adiponectin, resistin, leptin, and visfatin. Since distinct effects of adipokines on inflammation have been described, their influence on the (innate) immune system has been investigated in rheumatology, gastroenterology, and endocrinology. This review gives an overview on the current knowledge about the influence which adipokines have on the immune system and chronic inflammation in rheumatic diseases.


Antioxidants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Obrador ◽  
Rosario Salvador ◽  
Rafael López-Blanch ◽  
Ali Jihad-Jebbar ◽  
Soraya L. Vallés ◽  
...  

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron (MN) disease. Its primary cause remains elusive, although a combination of different causal factors cannot be ruled out. There is no cure, and prognosis is poor. Most patients with ALS die due to disease-related complications, such as respiratory failure, within three years of diagnosis. While the underlying mechanisms are unclear, different cell types (microglia, astrocytes, macrophages and T cell subsets) appear to play key roles in the pathophysiology of the disease. Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress pave the way leading to neurodegeneration and MN death. ALS-associated mitochondrial dysfunction occurs at different levels, and these organelles are involved in the mechanism of MN death. Molecular and cellular interactions are presented here as a sequential cascade of events. Based on our present knowledge, the discussion leads to the idea that feasible therapeutic strategies should focus in interfering with the pathophysiology of the disease at different steps.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tereza Filipi ◽  
Zuzana Hermanova ◽  
Jana Tureckova ◽  
Ondrej Vanatko ◽  
Miroslava Anderova

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurological disease, which is characterized by the degeneration of motor neurons in the motor cortex and the spinal cord and subsequently by muscle atrophy. To date, numerous gene mutations have been linked to both sporadic and familial ALS, but the effort of many experimental groups to develop a suitable therapy has not, as of yet, proven successful. The original focus was on the degenerating motor neurons, when researchers tried to understand the pathological mechanisms that cause their slow death. However, it was soon discovered that ALS is a complicated and diverse pathology, where not only neurons, but also other cell types, play a crucial role via the so-called non-cell autonomous effect, which strongly deteriorates neuronal conditions. Subsequently, variable glia-based in vitro and in vivo models of ALS were established and used for brand-new experimental and clinical approaches. Such a shift towards glia soon bore its fruit in the form of several clinical studies, which more or less successfully tried to ward the unfavourable prognosis of ALS progression off. In this review, we aimed to summarize current knowledge regarding the involvement of each glial cell type in the progression of ALS, currently available treatments, and to provide an overview of diverse clinical trials covering pharmacological approaches, gene, and cell therapies.


Author(s):  
Brent T. Harris ◽  
Galam A. Khan ◽  
Saed Sadeghi

Although the basic gross and microscopic pathological changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have been known for more than 100 years, emerging technology and research into the cellular and molecular changes found in this disease are challenging our understanding about the pathogenesis and pathophysiology. All cell types of the CNS/PNS as well as circulating immune cells have been implicated in the pathology of ALS. Numerous genes, their proteins, and environmental factors have also been associated. However, we still do not understand the specific gene-environmental interactions that bring about and drive this devastating disease in most cases. This short chapter does not address the causal factors and molecular pathogeneses that have been hypothesized and actively researched in the pathology of ALS-as these are discussed in other sections of this text. Here, it shows and discusses the basic pathological changes at the tissue and cellular levels that help to establish the pathological diagnosis of ALS at autopsy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jang Hwan Cho ◽  
Atsushi Okuma ◽  
Katri Sofjan ◽  
Seunghee Lee ◽  
James J. Collins ◽  
...  

AbstractThe immune system is a sophisticated network of different cell types performing complex biocomputation at single-cell and consortium levels. The ability to reprogram such an interconnected multicellular system holds enormous promise in treating various diseases, as exemplified by the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells as cancer therapy. However, most CAR designs lack computation features and cannot reprogram multiple immune cell types in a coordinated manner. Here, leveraging our split, universal, and programmable (SUPRA) CAR system, we develop an inhibitory feature, achieving a three-input logic, and demonstrate that this programmable system is functional in diverse adaptive and innate immune cells. We also create an inducible multi-cellular NIMPLY circuit, kill switch, and a synthetic intercellular communication channel. Our work highlights that a simple split CAR design can generate diverse and complex phenotypes and provide a foundation for engineering an immune cell consortium with user-defined functionalities.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren E Fuess ◽  
Daniel I Bolnick

Pathogenic infection is an important driver of many ecological processes. Furthermore, variability in immune function is an important driver of differential infection outcomes. New evidence would suggest that immune variation extends to broad cellular structure of immune systems. However, variability at such broad levels is traditionally difficult to detect in non-model systems. Here we leverage single cell transcriptomic approaches to document signatures of microevolution of immune system structure in a natural system, the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We sampled nine adult fish from three populations with variability in resistance to a cestode parasite, Schistocephalus solidus, to create the first comprehensive immune cell atlas for G. aculeatus. Eight major immune cell types, corresponding to major vertebrate immune cells, were identified. We were also able to document significant variation in both abundance and expression profiles of the individual immune cell types, among the three populations of fish. This variability may contribute to observed variability in parasite susceptibility. Finally, we demonstrate that identified cell type markers can be used to reinterpret traditional transcriptomic data. Combined our study demonstrates the power of single cell sequencing to not only document evolutionary phenomena (i.e. microevolution of immune cells), but also increase the power of traditional transcriptomic datasets.


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