At the end of the article if you read the whole thing, it is claimed that this is to be published in the prestigious science journal, Nature. -Bob
PUBLIC RELEASE: Missing link found between brain, immune system -- with major disease implications
Implications profound for neurological diseases from autism to Alzheimer's to multiple sclerosis
IMAGE: MAPS OF THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM: OLD (LEFT) AND UPDATED TO REFLECT UVA'S DISCOVERY. view more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HEALTH SYSTEM
- Vessels directly connecting brain, lymphatic system exist despite decades of doctrine that they don't
- Finding may have substantial implications for major neurological diseases
- Game-changing discovery opens new areas of research, transforms existing ones
- Major gap in understanding of the human body revealed
- 'They'll have to change the textbooks'
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., June 1, 2015 - In a stunning discovery that overturns decades of textbook teaching, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the brain is directly connected to the immune system by vessels previously thought not to exist. That such vessels could have escaped detection when the lymphatic system has been so thoroughly mapped throughout the body is surprising on its own, but the true significance of the discovery lies in the effects it could have on the study and treatment of neurological diseases ranging from autism to Alzheimer's disease to multiple sclerosis.
"Instead of asking, 'How do we study the immune response of the brain?' 'Why do multiple sclerosis patients have the immune attacks?' now we can approach this mechanistically. Because the brain is like every other tissue connected to the peripheral immune system through meningeal lymphatic vessels," said Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, professor in the UVA Department of Neuroscience and director of UVA's Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG). "It changes entirely the way we perceive the neuro-immune interaction. We always perceived it before as something esoteric that can't be studied. But now we can ask mechanistic questions."
"We believe that for every neurological disease that has an immune component to it, these vessels may play a major role," Kipnis said. "Hard to imagine that these vessels would not be involved in a [neurological] disease with an immune component."
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