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CATEGORIES:Cambridge Immunology
SUMMARY:'How grafted neural stem cells speak with the host
  immune system' - Stefano Pluchino John van Geest 
 Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair and Wellcome Tru
 st-Medical Research Council Stem Cell Institute\, 
 Department of Clinical Neurosciences
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20131101T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20131101T140000
UID:TALK45653AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/45653
DESCRIPTION:The recent advances in stem cell biology have rais
 ed great expectations that diseases and injuries o
 f the central nervous system (CNS) may be ameliora
 ted by the development of non-haematopoietic stem 
 cell medicines. Yet\, the application of stem cell
 s as CNS therapeutics is very challenging and the 
 interpretation of some of the outcomes is not comp
 letely unambiguous. In fact\, the initial idea tha
 t stem cell transplants work only via structural c
 ell replacement has been significantly challenged 
 by the observation of consistent cellular signalli
 ng between the graft and the host. Cellular signal
 ling is the foundation of coordinated actions and 
 flexible responses and it is well established that
  this signalling takes place through different pat
 hways involving networks of interacting molecules\
 , which in turn transmit patterns of information b
 etween cells. Sustained stem cell graft-to-host ex
 change of signals has led to remarkable trophic ef
 fects on endogenous brain cells and beneficial mod
 ulatory actions on innate and adaptive immune resp
 onses that ultimately promote the healing of the i
 njured CNS. Among a number of promising candidate 
 stem cell sources\, mesenchymal/stromal stem cells
  (MSCs) and neural stem/precursor cells (NPCs) are
  being extensively investigated for their capaciti
 es to signal to the immune system upon transplanta
 tion in experimental CNS diseases. \nHere I will f
 ocus on the main cellular signalling pathways that
  grafted stem cells use to establish a therapeutic
 ally relevant cross talk with immune cells\, exami
 ned the potential role of local inflammation in th
 ese communications\, and finally reflected on the 
 forthcoming challenges related to the translation 
 of these exciting experimental proofs into ready-t
 o-use clinical medicines for inflammatory CNS dise
 ases.\n
LOCATION:MPLT\, MRC-LMB\, Francis Crick Avenue\, Cambridge 
 Biomedical Campus\, CB2 0QH
CONTACT:Dr Tennie Videler
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