|
Topic Name: Researchers find a direct route from the brain to the immune system
Category: Biomedical
Research persons: Kevin J. Tracey, MD
Location: Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, United States
Details
It used to be dogma that the brain was shut away from the actions of the
immune system, shielded from the outside forces of nature. But that’s not how
it is at all. In fact, thanks to the scientific detective work of Kevin Tracey,
MD, it turns out that the brain talks directly to the immune
system, sending commands that control the body’s inflammatory response to
infection and autoimmune
diseases. Understanding the intimate relationship is leading to a novel way
to treat diseases triggered by a dangerous inflammatory response.
Dr. Tracey, director and chief executive of The Feinstein
Institute for Medical Research, will be giving the 2007 Stetten Lecture on
Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the National Institutes of
Health in Bethesda, MD. His talk – Physiology and Immunology of the Cholinergic
Anti-inflammatory Pathway – will highlight the discoveries made in his
laboratory and the clinical trials underway to test the theory that stimulation
of the vagus
nerve could block a rogue inflammatory response and treat a number of
diseases, including life-threatening sepsis.
With this new understanding of the vagus nerve’s role in regulating
inflammation, scientists believe that they can tap into the body’s natural
healing defenses and calm the sepsis storm before it wipes out its victims. Each
year, 750,000 people in the United States develop severe sepsis, and 215,000
will die no matter how hard doctors fight to save them. Sepsis is triggered by
the body’s own overpowering immune response to a systemic infection, and
hospitals are the battlegrounds for these potentially lethal conditions.
The vagus nerve is located in the brainstem and snakes down from the brain to
the heart and on through to the abdomen. Dr. Tracey and others are now studying
ways of altering the brain’s response or targeting the immune system itself as
a way to control diseases.
Dr. Tracey is a neurosurgeon who came into research through the back door of
the operating room. More than two decades ago, he was treating a young girl
whose body had been accidentally scorched by boiling water and she was fighting
for her life to overcome sepsis. She didn’t make it. Dr. Tracey headed into
the laboratory to figure out why the body makes its own cells that can do fatal
damage. Dr. Tracey discovered that the vagus nerve speaks directly to the immune
system through a neurochemical called acetylcholine. And stimulating the vagus
nerve sent commands to the immune system to stop pumping out toxic inflammatory
markers. “This was so surprising to us,” said Dr. Tracey, who immediately
saw the potential to use vagus stimulation as a way to shut off abnormal immune
system responses. He calls this network “the inflammatory reflex.”
Research is now underway to see whether tweaking the brain's acetylcholine
system could be a natural way to control the inflammatory response. Inflammation
is key to many diseases - from autoimmune conditions like Crohn's disease and
rheumatoid arthritis to Alzheimer's, where scientists have identified a strong
inflammatory component.
Dr. Tracey has presented his work to the Dalai Lama, who has shown a great
interest in the neurosciences and the mind-body connection. He has also written
a book called “Fatal Sequence,” about the double-edge sword of the immune
system.
About The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
Headquartered in Manhasset, NY, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
is home to international scientific leaders in Parkinson's disease,
Alzheimer’s disease, psychiatric disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus,
sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, human genetics, leukemia,
lymphoma, neuroimmunology, and medicinal chemistry. The Feinstein Institute,
part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, ranks in the top 6th percentile of
all National Institutes of Health grants awarded to research centers. Feinstein
researchers are developing new drugs and drug targets, and producing results
where science meets the patient.
About Researcher:
Kevin J. Tracey, MD
DIRECTOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER;
INVESTIGATOR
HEAD, SUSAN AND HERMAN MERINOFF CENTER FOR PATIENT-ORIENTED RESEARCH
DIRECTOR, LABORATORY OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE
PROFESSOR OF MICROBIOLOGY & IMMUNOLOGY,
ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
SELECTED KEY PUBLICATIONS
Tracey KJ. The inflammatory reflex. Nature. 2002 Dec 19-26;420(6917):853-9.
Tracey KJ. Fatal Sequence: The Killer Within. Washington, DC: Dana Press; 2005.
| Related research: |
BEST WAY TO DETECT AIRBORNE PATHOGENS, Bone graft alternative, Predict cells' response to drugs, Radiation Therapy for Cancer Patients Controlled & Could Speed Up by Machine Learning, 21st-century pack mule: MIT's 'exoskeleton' lightens the load, 3D Ultrasound brain scanner : successfully image the brain, 450 new terms for describing gene products involved in microbe-host interactions., A new model of lie detector, A signaling pathway crucially involved in Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis, Bath Pain Management Unit has developed an observational tool, Biomarker, or biological indicator, for early diagnosis of neurological disorders, Biomolecular World : connections among biology and physics, and molecules and computers, Brain scanning experiment shows how much we take others' earnings as a measure of our success, Cloning from Adult DNA, Compute-intensive applications : The new Cell Accelerator Board, Cornell University's researchers discover hormone that may lead to safe treatment for hypertension, Detect cancer and neurological diseases by identifying certain molecules present in human blood or urine, Developed simple bladder cancer test, Different biomolecules (DNA, proteins, etc.) in a single sample, Duke scientists map imprinted genes in human genome, say a modern-day Rosetta stone, Emotions play a part in moral judgments, Factors of Prostate Cancer Risk, FINDING SURVIVORS, PROTECTING DRIVERS, Firsts with Bursts of Light ,Team generates most energetic terahertz pulses yet, observes useful optical phenomena, Fluorescence microscopy : medical, commercial applications
|
|
