JEM: activate special immune cells or help effectively slow down or even reverse brain aging

February 8, 2020 / BIOON / -- recently, an International Journal of Experimental Medicine In the previous research report, scientists from Albany Medical College and other institutions found special types of immune cells accumulated in the aging brain, which can activate these cells or improve the memory of aging mice The related research results show that targeting these cells can reduce the age-related cognitive decline and help humans resist age-related nerves The occurrence of degenerative diseases Photo source: Fung et al., 2020 the brain will become highly susceptible to aging With the growth of age, the cognitive ability of the brain, such as learning and memory ability, will gradually decline The human immune system will also degrade with the aging of the body, which will increase the susceptibility of the body to infection and the possibility of high-level inflammation In this study, the researchers found that special immune cells called ilc2s (group 2 inborn lymphoid cells) may undergo aging related changes, which may help researchers develop new strategies to resist the effects of brain aging with this cell as the target Ilc2s is located in specific tissues of the body and can repair itself when it is injured Recently, researchers found that ilc2s in the spinal cord can promote the healing and repair of spinal cord injury However, researchers do not know whether ilc2s in other parts of the central nervous system can respond to brain aging When researchers analyzed the brains of young and old mice, they found that as the body ages, ilc2s accumulates in a type of brain choroid In the structure of plexus), this kind of structure will produce cerebrospinal fluid and is close to the hippocampus, which plays a key role in the learning and memory ability of the body Compared with the brain of young mice, the ilc2s in the brain of old mice is 5 times of the former More importantly, researchers also found a large number of ilc2s in the choroids of the brain of old individuals To a large extent, ilc2s in the brain of old mice is inactive or static, but it can be activated by using the signal molecules of IL-33 cells to process animals IL-33 can promote cell proliferation and produce special proteins, which can stimulate the formation and survival of neurons Compared with ilc2s in the brain of young mice, ilc2s in the brain of old mice has a longer survival time More ilc2s can be generated after activation It is worth noting that IL-33 can be used to treat the old mice or inject a kind of ilc2 which is activated in the laboratory in advance, or it can improve the performance of the mice in a series of cognitive tests to measure the learning and memory ability; this shows that activation of ilc2 can improve the cognitive function of the big brain of the old mice One of the proteins produced by activated ilc2 is the signal molecule IL-5 The researchers found that the treatment of old mice with IL-5 can increase the production of new neurons in the hippocampus and reduce the expression of potentially damaging inflammation in the brain In addition, in a series of experiments, IL-5 therapy can improve the cognitive function and performance of old mice Yang, the researcher, said that the results of this study revealed that the intrinsic ilc2 cells in tissues accumulate in the choroids of aging brain, and the activation of ilc2 can slow down the aging of brain and the decline of age-related cognitive ability of the body Finally, the researchers say that aging is the main risk factor for a variety of neurocognitive and neurodegenerative diseases Targeting ilc2 cells in aging brain may help researchers develop new therapies and strategies against a variety of human diseases Original source: Fung et al Activation of group 2 in Nate lymphoid cells allowed aging associated cognitive decline, J exp MED (2020) doi: 10.1084/jem.20190915