Nature: why do immune cells targeting EB virus "sniff" the brains of Alzheimer's patients?

January 15, 2020 / Biovalley bio on / -- recently, in a research report published in the international journal Nature, scientists from Stanford University found immune cells unable to get rid of the virus in the brain of patients with late Alzheimer's disease and the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer's disease The researchers not only found high levels of immune cells, but also found that these amazing numbers of T cells can be used to "target" the characteristics of EB virus Photo source: the National Cancer Institute does not have convincing evidence that EBV is associated with Alzheimer's disease, but the good news is that EBV (Epstein-Barr Virus, the fourth type of human herpesvirus) is more common than family pets When we are 5 years old, it will infect about 50% of the population In our life, nine out of ten people will be infected with the virus, usually it will quietly hide in the body, including the brain EB virus usually does not show symptoms, but the most common is to induce monocytosis This study further obscures the traditional cognition of scientists about the causes of Alzheimer's disease For a while, researchers believed that Alzheimer's disease was caused by a kind of accumulation of glial plaque called a-β protein Now, clinical trials aimed at preventing or blocking Alzheimer's disease are aimed at reducing the level of a-β protein or plaque Failure at the cost of billions may prove that correlation is not causation Recently, researchers have turned their attention to another potential driver of Alzheimer's disease, a state of age-related innate immune system hyperactivity, in which the cells that make up the immune defense system may not recognize specific pathogens; in contrast, it has the ability to detect suspicious substances of various microbial species, because of its Taste is common, so innate immune cells don't need to be trained (or pre exposed to specific pathogens) to take immediate action when they think they've found one But the problem is that innate immune cells are relatively careless, they often cause collateral damage to their own healthy cells, thus inducing low-level inflammation, which is often directly related to a variety of aging diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease So far, researchers have not paid much attention to another branch of the immune system, adaptive immune system System), the cells in the system will have specific response to a single pathogen, which may be because T cells, a key member of adaptive immune cells, carry special receptors, which can recognize microorganisms or super special characteristics To the surprise of researchers, tens of millions of T cells in the machine have a different shape of receptors, so they can have different micro Organisms respond differently In the end, researcher Wyss Coray said that it may be too early to say that "the virus will induce Alzheimer's disease", which we have not confirmed, but we do find that in the brain of the deceased Alzheimer's patients, there are active T cells which can recognize EB virus beside the damaged neuron cells We think that these cells may induce neurodegeneration, But it seems to be hovering around the "crime scene" Later researchers need to conduct more in-depth research to clarify whether EB virus is really related to Alzheimer's disease Original source: David gate et al Clonally expanded CD8 T cells patrol the cererospinal fluid in Alzheimer's disease, nature (2020) Doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1895-7