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SUMMARY:'How grafted neural stem cells speak with the host immune system' 
 - Stefano Pluchino John van Geest Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair and We
 llcome Trust-Medical Research Council Stem Cell Institute\, Department of 
 Clinical Neurosciences
DTSTART:20131101T130000Z
DTEND:20131101T140000Z
UID:TALK45653@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Tennie Videler
DESCRIPTION:The recent advances in stem cell biology have raised great exp
 ectations that diseases and injuries of the central nervous system (CNS) m
 ay be ameliorated by the development of non-haematopoietic stem cell medic
 ines. Yet\, the application of stem cells as CNS therapeutics is very chal
 lenging and the interpretation of some of the outcomes is not completely u
 nambiguous. In fact\, the initial idea that stem cell transplants work onl
 y via structural cell replacement has been significantly challenged by the
  observation of consistent cellular signalling between the graft and the h
 ost. Cellular signalling is the foundation of coordinated actions and flex
 ible responses and it is well established that this signalling takes place
  through different pathways involving networks of interacting molecules\, 
 which in turn transmit patterns of information between cells. Sustained st
 em cell graft-to-host exchange of signals has led to remarkable trophic ef
 fects on endogenous brain cells and beneficial modulatory actions on innat
 e and adaptive immune responses that ultimately promote the healing of the
  injured CNS. Among a number of promising candidate stem cell sources\, me
 senchymal/stromal stem cells (MSCs) and neural stem/precursor cells (NPCs)
  are being extensively investigated for their capacities to signal to the 
 immune system upon transplantation in experimental CNS diseases. \nHere I 
 will focus on the main cellular signalling pathways that grafted stem cell
 s use to establish a therapeutically relevant cross talk with immune cells
 \, examined the potential role of local inflammation in these communicatio
 ns\, and finally reflected on the forthcoming challenges related to the tr
 anslation of these exciting experimental proofs into ready-to-use clinical
  medicines for inflammatory CNS diseases.\n
LOCATION:MPLT\, MRC-LMB\, Francis Crick Avenue\, Cambridge Biomedical Camp
 us\, CB2 0QH
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