Brain Structure Assists in Immune Response

For the first time, a team of researchers has imaged in real time the body's immune response to a parasitic infection in the brain.

These new findings should provide unexpected insights into how immune cells are regulated in the brain and have implications for treatment of any inflammatory condition that affects the brain. Toxoplasma, a common parasite of humans, is found in the brains of approximately 30% of the population. However, because the brain lacks its own lymphatic system for localized immune response and the blood brain barrier limits antibody entry, researchers have found it provides unique challenges for the immune system to control local infection. Therefore, little is known about the processes by which T cells access the central nervous system during Toxoplasma infection or how the immune system keeps this parasite in check.

In this study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet; Philadelphia, USA) are trying to better understand how the immune system is able to control infection in the brain. Using recent developments in two-photon microscopy that allow the visualization of T-cell populations in the brain, Dr. Chris Hunter's laboratory focused on the visualization of effector CD8+ T cells during toxoplasmic encephalitis.

"We found, quite unexpectedly, that the movement of infiltrating T cells was closely associated with an infection-induced reticular system of fibers in the brain,” lead author Dr. Emma Wilson said. "These structures were not present in normal brain tissue.”

"This observation suggests that in the brain, specialized structures are induced by inflammation that guide migration of T cells in this immune-privileged environment and allow them to perform a search-and-destroy type of mission required to find abnormal cells or microbes with the brain,” stated Dr. Hunter, professor and chair of the department of pathobiology at Penn Vet.

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University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine