Brain lymphatics carry pathogenic T cells in MS

Blocking a signal that attracts pathogenic T cells to the brain’s lymphatic vessels could help treat multiple sclerosis, according to a Nature Neuroscience study. The findings add MS to a short but growing list of CNS disorders in which the recently discovered cerebral vessels are implicated.

Until three years ago, neuroscientists believed the brain, unlike the rest of the body, did not contain lymphatic vessels. In a 2015 Nature paper, University of Virginia Professor Jonathan Kipnis and colleagues overthrew that dogma by showing that lymphatic vessels reside in the meningeal membranes surrounding the brain and connect the organ to cervical lymph nodes (see “PureTech’s Lymphatic Leap”). Kipnis is chair of the department of neuroscience and director of the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia at UVA...