Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Glutamate joins the ranks of immunomodulators

Nature Medicine volume 16, pages 856–858 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Elevated amounts of glutamate, which acts as a neurotransmitter but is also a neurotoxin, are a hallmark of the autoimmune neurological disease multiple sclerosis and may contribute to its pathology. The discovery that a receptor for glutamate can inhibit the development of autoimmunity and protect from neuroinflammation in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis suggests that glutamate may also have a protective role and that its receptor may represent a therapeutic target (pages 897–902).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Glutamate activation of mGluR4 signaling in dendritic cells prevents the production of IL-6 and IL-23, favoring the development of Treg cells over TH17 cells in EAE.

Katie Vicari

References

  1. Breder, C.D., Dinarello, C.A. & Saper, C.B. Science 240, 321–324 (1988).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bogdan, C. Nat. Immunol. 2, 907–916 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Coleman, J.W. Int. Immunopharmacol. 1, 1397–1406 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Fallarino, F. et al. Nat. Med. 16, 897–902 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Platt, S.R. Vet. J. 173, 278–286 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Zhu, J., Yamane, H. & Paul, W.E. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 28, 445–489 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Compston, A. & Coles, A. Lancet 372, 1502–1517 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. East, S.P. & Gerlach, K. Expert Opin. Ther. Pat. 20, 441–445 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Crome, S.Q., Wang, A.Y. & Levings, M.K. Clin. Exp. Immunol. 159, 109–119 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Damsker, J.M., Hansen, A.M. & Caspi, R.R. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 1183, 211–221 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anna M. Hansen and Rachel R. Caspi are at the Laboratory of Immunology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.,

    Anna M Hansen & Rachel R Caspi

Authors
  1. Anna M Hansen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rachel R Caspi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel R Caspi.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hansen, A., Caspi, R. Glutamate joins the ranks of immunomodulators. Nat Med 16, 856–858 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0810-856

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0810-856

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing