What can blood cells tell us and how can we use this for new MS treatments?

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is underpinned by inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. Most treatments aim to stop immune cells like B and T cells from targeting the body’s own tissue. However, these treatments disregard another important arm of the immune system called the innate immune system. This is the body’s first line of defence when viruses or bacteria invade.

This project focuses on two innate immune cell types, neutrophils and dendritic cells. Neutrophils are the most abundant immune cell type in human blood and have multiple functions. There are many types of neutrophils but how these relate to MS is not understood well. Dendritic cells moderate and direct the effects of B and T cells. There are also different types of dendritic cells, some increasing and others decreasing inflammation.

Using a laboratory model of MS, Associate Professor Anne Bruestle and her team will investigate these different cell populations, their physical characteristics and function in MS. The team will also test whether their findings in the laboratory model apply to MS, by comparing inflammatory and suppressive immune cells in the model with the immune cells in people with and without MS.

Collaborating with industry partners, Associate Professor Bruestle has developed treatment models to specifically target innate immune cell types. These are a small drug molecule that targets a key function of neutrophils; and liposomes (lipid-based nanoparticles) to deliver treatments to specific types of dendritic cells. She is exploring these for use in MS.