Brain Vol. 127 No. 12 © Guarantors of Brain 2004; all rights reserved
Scientific Commentary |
Inhibiting leukocyte recruitment to the brain by IVIg: is it relevant to the treatment of demyelinating CNS disorders?
Neuromuscular Diseases Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Building 10, Room 4N248, 10 Center Dr. MSC 1382 Bethesda, MD 20892-1382 USA Email: dalakasm@ninds.nih.gov
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Recruitment and migration of activated leukocytes into the brain is a fundamental process in the induction of various autoimmune CNS disorders, most notably multiple sclerosis. Although not all tissues use the same molecules for leukocyte recruitment (Alter et al., 2003
; Ransohoff et al., 2003), the information derived from experimental allegic encephalomyelitis (EAE), a T-cell-mediated animal model that resembles multiple sclerosis, has provided useful data on the key molecules associated with T-cell transmigration into the brain. The initial contact between a leukocyte and an endothelial cell is referred to as ‘tethering’, while the immediate subsequent interaction is described as ‘rolling’ [Fig. 1(1) and (2)] (von Andrian and MacKay, 2000). These steps, which allow the leukocyte to slow down and roll along the vascular wall, are mediated predominantly by selectins