Beyond the innate immune system: rethinking inflammasomes in multiple sclerosis
Gayel Durana b, Janne Verreyckena b, Yvonne Dombrowskic, Mohamed Lamkanfid, Paulien Baetena b, Bieke Brouxa e✉
- aUniversity MS Center, Campus Diepenbeek, Diepenbeek, Belgium
- bNeuro-Immune Connections and Repair Lab, Department of Immunology and Infection, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium
- cWellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 7BL, UK
- dLaboratory of Medical Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- eNeuro-Immune Connections and Repair Lab, Department of Immunology and Infection, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium. Electronic address: bieke.broux@uhasselt.be
- ✉Corresponding author
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Abstract
Inflammasomes have emerged as central regulators of (auto)immune pathology, including multiple sclerosis (MS). Once exclusively considered in the domain of myeloid cells, both canonical and noncanonical inflammasomes are now recognized in diverse immune and nonimmune populations relevant to MS, including T lymphocytes, blood-brain barrier (BBB) endothelial cells (EnC), and oligodendrocytes (ODCs). Elevated inflammasome activity is evident in patient-derived samples, particularly within active brain lesions. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) models confirm the pathogenic contribution of inflammasomes, as genetic deletion or pharmacological inhibition of inflammasomes mitigate disease. These advances position inflammasomes at the intersection of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, and highlight inflammasome inhibition as a promising therapeutic avenue currently under investigation in preclinical and early clinical studies.
TL;DRExperimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis models confirm the pathogenic contribution of inflammasomes and highlight inflammasome inhibition as a promising therapeutic avenue currently under investigation in preclinical and early clinical studies. (Semantic Scholar)