Bringing down the blood-brain barrier
Patients afflicted by neuromyelitis optica suffer from disruption of the blood-brain barrier. Shimizu et al. generated recombinant antibodies from patient cerebral spinal fluid and demonstrated that some antibodies targeting glucose-regulated protein 78 were able activate brain microvascular endothelial cells and induced protein extravasation in cell lines and in mice. These findings suggest that glucose-regulated protein 78–targeted antibodies could be instigating blood-brain barrier breakdown and development of hallmark anti–aquaporin-4 autoantibody pathology. Not only that, the application of these antibodies could help open up the blood-brain barrier for transit of treatments for many central nervous system diseases.
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