Revolutionary new research shows the link between lymphatic system, the brain, and immunity!

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 lymphatics that were previously thought not to exist!

The new discovery will open new approaches to diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, Professor in the UVA Department of Neuroscience and Director of UVA’s Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG) said, “It changes entirely the way we perceive the neuro-immune interaction.”

He went on to say that they now believe that these newly discovered vessels may play a major role for “every neurological disease that has an immune component to it.”

Kevin Lee, PhD, Chairman of the UVA Department of Neuroscience said that “it will fundamentally change the way people look at the central nervous system’s relationship with the immune system.”

“In Alzheimer’s there are accumulations of big protein chunks in the brain,” Kipnis said. We think they may be accumulating in the brain because they’re not being efficiently removed by these [lymph] vessels.”

The finding was published June 1, 2015 online by the prestigious journal Nature and will appear in a forthcoming print edition. (doi:10.1038/nature14432) The article was authored by Louveau, Smirnov, Timothy J. Keys, Jacob D. Eccles, Sherin J. Rouhani, J. David Peske, Noel C. Derecki, David Castle, James W. Mandell, Lee, Harris, and Kipnis. It was funded by National Institutes of Health grants.

Sources:   Debra Kain – University of Virginia Health System.  The above article was adapted from one which appeared on Neurosciencenews.com

From the ABSTRACT:    

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature14432.html.

A groundbreaking discovery sheds new light on neurological diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s Disease that are associated with immune system dysfunction.

The long-held concept of the absence of lymphatic vasculature in the Central Nervous System was smashed last week by a University of Virginia team. The finding was published June 1, 2015 online by the prestigious journal Nature and will appear in a forthcoming print edition. (doi:10.1038/nature14432) The article was authored by Louveau, Smirnov, Timothy J. Keys, Jacob D. Eccles, Sherin J. Rouhani, J. David Peske, Noel C. Derecki, David Castle, James W. Mandell, Lee, Harris, and Kipnis. It was funded by National Institutes of Health grants.