New therapeutic targets for Multiple Sclerosis identified by studying the role of microglia in myelin repair
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that affects over 100,000 Canadians and is the leading cause of neurological disability amongst people ages 20-40 years. It is a chronic, autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the protective myelin sheath covering nerves in the brain and spinal cord, disrupting signal transmission. It is associated with loss of motor, visual, sensory, autonomic and cognitive functions. Microglia, the immune cells of the central nervous system, are essential for efficient myelin regeneration, or remyelination—a process that occurs naturally in people with MS but is often inadequate and declines with age. In this article, Sameera Zia, working in the laboratory of Jason Plemel at the University of Alberta, uncovered central processes during myelin sheath repair by probing the immune basis of repair in multiple sclerosis (MS). They identified novel immune states present in brains of people with MS that can be targeted to repair brain lesions.
Article citation
Zia, S., Traetta, M.E., Baaklini, C.S., Hammond, B.P., John, R.K., Souter, K.M., Meijns, N.R.C., Afun, L.A., Panda, S., Ibanez, F.G., Burr, M.K., Dhupia, E., Rathod, A.M., Faria, A.O., Zaveri, D., Challa, S., Hahn, E., Manesh, S.B., Lee, K.V., Ho., M.F.S., Friedman, T.N., Maguire, A.D., Pang, A., Farkas, O., Szulc, B., Tenorio, L., Vyas, D., La Caprara, O.R., Tetzlaff, W., Sinha, S., Duncan, G.J., Voronova, A., Kerr, B.J., Tremblay, M., Biernaskie, J., Schenk, G.J., Plemel, J.R. Age-related impaired remyelination is associated with dysregulated microglial transition. Nature Communications; 2025
