The brain's immune system works more simply than expected
Freiburg researchers find common patterns of immune defense in human brain tissue and in a mouse model
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Diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis or brain tumors progress very differently. Nevertheless, the immune defense of the human brain uses similar reaction patterns. Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Freiburg, together with an international team, have now been able to show this in analyses of human brain tissue and mouse models. They also created detailed maps of the brain that show where certain immune cells occur in diseases. This allows important conclusions to be drawn about their function. The results improve our understanding of immune defense in the brain and could help to develop new therapies in a more targeted manner in the long term. The study was published on March 25, 2026 in the journal Nature Immunology.
"Our results show that immune cells in the brain react according to similar patterns in different diseases. The immune system has a manageable number of building blocks and programs that are combined in different ways," says study leader Prof. Dr. Marco Prinz, Medical Director of the Institute of Neuropathology at the Freiburg University Medical Center and member of the Cluster of Excellence Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS) at the University of Freiburg. These components include the protection of nerve cells, inflammatory reactions, cell division and the activation of other brain cells. "This helps us to describe disease-relevant processes more precisely and to better identify possible starting points for future therapies."
The artistic representation illustrates the ordered diversity of microglial reaction programs in various brain diseases described in the study.
Copyright: Universitätsklinikum Freiburg / Chintan Chhatbar
Microglia perform important tasks in the brain
The study focused on microglia. These are immune cells that are permanently present in the brain. They monitor nerve tissue, remove cell debris and react to inflammation, injury or the death of nerve cells. For the study, the research team examined immune cells from human brain tissue from patients with various diseases of the central nervous system. In addition, the researchers analyzed mouse models using the same experimental and computer-assisted methods. This enabled them to show that important patterns of immune defense are found in human tissue and occur in a similar form in mouse models.
Not only the type of reaction, but also its location is important
"It was crucial for us not only to see which microglia programs exist, but also where they occur in the diseased tissue," says Dr. Chintan Chhatbar, first author of the study at the Institute of Neuropathology at the Freiburg University Medical Centre. "Only then can we see which reactions are probably directly related to typical disease processes." In Alzheimer's disease, for example, certain microglia activations were found in the vicinity of typical protein deposits, in multiple sclerosis rather at the edges of lesions and in brain tumors in the immediate vicinity of tumor cells.
The work extends earlier studies, in which the distribution of individual cell types in the brain was mapped, with a disease-spanning and spatially resolved classification.
Important basis for future applications
The results provide an important basis for better comparing the immune defense in the human brain in different diseases and for determining possible targets for treatments more precisely. In the next steps, the researchers want to examine which of these programs can be specifically influenced and what role they could play in future diagnostics, monitoring and therapy.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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Diagnostics is at the heart of modern medicine and forms a crucial interface between research and patient care in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. It not only enables early detection and monitoring of disease, but also plays a central role in individualized medicine by enabling targeted therapies based on an individual's genetic and molecular signature.
Topic world Diagnostics
Diagnostics is at the heart of modern medicine and forms a crucial interface between research and patient care in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. It not only enables early detection and monitoring of disease, but also plays a central role in individualized medicine by enabling targeted therapies based on an individual's genetic and molecular signature.