The Role of Microglia in Preventing Remyelination with Aging

Start Term
End Term
Funding Amount
$299,000
Affiliation(s)
St. Michael’s Hospital
Geographic Region(s) / Province(s)
Ontario
Research Priorities
Repair/Remyelination
Impact Goal(s)
Understand and Halt Disease Progression

Researcher(s):  Veronique Miron 

Summary:

  • In multiple sclerosis (MS), efficient repair of damaged myelin fails with aging. A better understanding of why myelin repair fails with age and what factors are involved are critical for the development of new therapeutics in MS. 
  • Dr. Veronique Miron and team aim to understand the role of specific immune cells in the brain, called microglia, to prevent myelin repair failure with aging in MS. They have previously found that microglia normally prevent myelin repair from failing in healthy individuals, but they somehow lose their protective role in MS.  
  • This research has the potential to uncover new strategies to support myelin repair in MS.

Project Description: 
Myelin, the insulating layer surrounding nerve fibres, becomes damaged and lost in MS. Natural repair of damaged myelin takes place initially, but this process eventually fails with aging. It is important to understand why myelin repair fails when people with MS begin to age and what factors are involved in order to develop effective strategies to promote myelin repair in MS.

Dr. Veronique Miron and team have found that specific immune cells that reside in the brain, called microglia, normally prevent myelin damage and support repair from youth to old age. However, in MS, these cells seem to lose their protective role with aging and contribute to failed myelin repair as MS progresses.

In this study, the researchers will use mouse models of MS and human MS brain tissues to: 1) investigate the involvement of microglia in myelin repair in specific regions of the central nervous system, 2) determine the mechanisms in which microglia prevent myelin repair from failing with age (i.e. acting on myelin-producing cells called oligodendrocytes), and 3) identify the factors that help microglia prevent myelin repair from failing.

Potential Impact: The findings from this research will provide new insights as to why myelin repair fails with aging in MS and potentially reveal new strategies to promote repair in MS.

Project Status: In Progress