Neuroimmunology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that is driven by autoreactive lymphocytes. An in vivo CRISPR screen of T cell infiltration in a rat model of MS now identifies the genetic modules that control this key step in the immunopathology of MS.

A recent study identified a microglia–T cell communication axis that retains CD8⁺ T cells in brains with amyloid pathology. Data from this study indicate that CD8⁺ T cells restrict Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis.

The APOE4 allele is a major genetic risk factor for the development of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this manuscript, Butovsky and colleagues suggest that APOE4 impairs the microglial response in AD by inducing TGFβ-mediated checkpoints.

Stress-associated catecholamines promote CD8⁺ T cell exhaustion through the β₁-adrenergic receptor, and blocking β-adrenergic signalling may help restore anti-tumour functions.

How the leptomeninges establish CNS compartments with different accessibility to immune cells and immune mediators remains unknown. Here, the authors show junctional localization of VE-cadherin in arachnoid and pia mater cells, which allows to visualize potential barrier properties of the leptomeninges in vivo.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions are initiated by the infiltration of T cells to the CNS. Here, Kendirli et al. use a genome-wide CRISPR screen in an MS model to define the molecules that regulate T cell entry to the CNS.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that is driven by autoreactive lymphocytes. An in vivo CRISPR screen of T cell infiltration in a rat model of MS now identifies the genetic modules that control this key step in the immunopathology of MS.

A recent study identified a microglia–T cell communication axis that retains CD8⁺ T cells in brains with amyloid pathology. Data from this study indicate that CD8⁺ T cells restrict Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis.

A study in Nature reports a lactate–HIF1α–NDUFA4L2 pathway in intestinal dendritic cells that regulates the inflammatory priming of encephalitogenic T cells.

Platelet factor 4 reduces inflammation and promotes cognition in the ageing brain.

Two studies in Nature describe the mechanisms that underlie allergen avoidance behaviour in mice, linking allergen sensing in the gut to a protective behavioural response to repeated ingestion of allergen.

We have used human-derived stem cells to generate various microglial states and investigate the function of human microglia in a scalable manner. We were able to model disease-associated microglia that replicated transcriptional signatures found in human tissue, and further developed a lentiviral transfer system to manipulate human microglial states in vitro.