Neutralizing MAG, a Protein that Inhibits the Migration of Transplanted Repair Cells
Hunter College
Dr. Marie Filbin
4 year grant, $75,000 per year, totaling $300,000
Decades of research into nerve physiology and the biology of myelin and glial cells that support nerve cells have been laying the groundwork for finding ways to restore normal function in individuals with MS.
• This project focuses on a protein called MAG and its activities that may limit the ability of transplanted cells to move to areas of damage and start repairing myelin damaged by MS.
• This team is seeking ways to neutralize MAG’s influence so that the migration of transplanted repair cells can be promoted.
• These studies could further the development of a repair strategy that uses myelin-making cells from other parts of the body to repair nervous system damage in MS.
Project Details: The immune attacks in MS cause damage to myelin, the insulation around nerve fibers, which slows or stops nerve impulses. Not only is myelin lost, cells in the brain and spinal cord that make myelin, the oligodendrocytes, are also lost. Many researchers believe that if myelin-making cells can be transplanted and widely distributed in the brain and spinal cord of people with MS, these cells may re-form myelin and the nerves may regain their function. Researchers have found that in laboratory studies, transplanting Schwann cells (myelin making cells from the peripheral nervous system, outside the brain and spinal cord) into the brain can induce myelin repair, but these cells do not migrate well and so the repair is limited.
Marie Filbin, PhD, and colleagues have identified a protein called MAG, found in the brain and spinal cord, which inhibits the migration of Schwann cells. Now they propose to identify the exact molecular mechanism that inhibits Schwann cell migration in cells isolated in the laboratory. Ultimately they will seek ways to neutralize these factors and promote the migration of transplanted Schwann cells. These studies should further the development of Schwann cell transplantation as a strategy for repairing damage in people with MS.
About the Investigator: Dr. Marie Filbin is an innovative scientist who has made significant contributions to our understanding of myelin and nerve growth. She trained as a biochemist at the University of Bath and earned her PhD there before doing postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. She joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins before moving in 1990 to Hunter College of the City University of New York, where she is now the Marie L. Hesselbach Chair in biology, the Director of specialized neuroscience research program, and Distinguished Professor of CUNY. Dr. Filbin has been the recipient of many awards including the National MS Society’s Norman Cohn Award for achieving the highest-scoring research proposal of the year. Dr. Filbin is an advisor to the National MS Society and is president of the New York Friends of Myelin, a network of scientists.