Triggering myelin repair in MS
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic and the University of California, Irvine have shown that knocking out CXC chemokine receptor 2 on oligodendrocytes improves myelin repair in two different mouse models of multiple sclerosis.1 The team thinks the receptor is an ideal target because it plays a role in two aspects of the disease: CNS inflammation and demyelination. However, finding antagonists that can cross the blood brain barrier could prove challenging.
The role of CXC chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2; IL8RB) in recruiting immune cells to sites of peripheral inflammation has been established for more than a decade, but recent findings have revealed an additional role in the CNS. There, the receptor is expressed on at least two cell types involved in multiple sclerosis (MS): proinflammatory neutrophils, which infiltrate the CNS from the periphery, and oligodendrocytes, which are the CNS cells responsible for myelinating neurons.2-4...