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Neurodegeneration and the neuroimmune system

Nature Medicine volume 16, pages 1369–1370 (2010)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

It was surprising that in a series of commentaries published in Nature Medicine on neurodegeneration1,2,3,4,5,6,7, few references were made to the neuroimmune system, including cells such as microglia, perivascular macrophages and circulating monocytes recruited into the central nervous system. This perhaps reflects the misconceptions, doubts and uncertainties that remain about these cells, in spite of decades of research. This also raises the question of whether we are perhaps underestimating the role of the neuroimmune system in neurodegeneration and consequently missing out on potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications for these disorders.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank S. Hickman and T. Means for their critical reading of the manuscript. Work done in my lab and cited here was supported by the US National Institute of Aging, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Dana Foundation Neuroimmunology program.

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  1. Laboratory for Innate Immunity and Neuroimmunology, Center for Immunology & Inflammatory Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA

    Joseph El Khoury

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Correspondence to Joseph El Khoury.

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El Khoury, J. Neurodegeneration and the neuroimmune system. Nat Med 16, 1369–1370 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1210-1369

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