Microglial EVs: new messengers during neurological disorders

Il 29/01/2016 ore 14.30 - 15.30

Sala Conferenze CNR, AdR Napoli 1, Via P. Castellino, 111 80131 Napoli

Dr Roberto Furlan from the Institute of Experimental Neurology - INSpe Division of Neuroscience San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, will give a seminar on the role of microglial vesicles in neurological disorders. Microvesicles (MVs) of different sub-cellular origin, and released by most cell types, have been recently indicated as a novel way of intercellular communication. MVs include microparticles shed from the plasma membrane and exosomes, secreted as a result of multivesicular bodies exocytosis. Both organelles mediate the transfer of lipids, proteins and genetic material from donor to target cells and are important vectors of inflammatory or pathogenic agents. MVs deriving from hematopoietic and endothelial cells or tumors are also emerging as new biomarkers of tissue damage. They have recently shown that microglia, upon in vitro activation, shed MVs containing pro-inflammatory signals. They show here that the number of microglia/macrophages-derived MVs is significantly increased in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of rodents and humans during diseases characterized by microglial activation. In the course of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease in which T cells reactive to myelin initiate an inflammatory response in the brain, MVs deliver a pro-inflammatory signal and contribute to neuroinflammation. MVs isolated from the CSF of MS patients have a different molecular signature as compared to MVs of patients affected by neurodegenerative disorders. Thus MVs in the CSF may constitute a quantitative and qualitative biomarker of activated microglia/macrophages in the brain, useful as an indicator of disease status.

Organizzato da:
IBP, Cnr

Referente organizzativo:
Diana Boraschi
CNR - Istituto di biochimica delle proteine
Via P. Castellino, 111 80131 Napoli
d.boraschi@ibp.cnr.it
081/6132623

Modalità di accesso: ingresso libero