A new review article, "Cerebrospinal fluid draining lymphatics in health and disease: advances and controversies", has been published in Nature Cardiovascular Research.  

Our research center has published a review in Nature Cardiovascular Research entitled “Cerebrospinal fluid draining lymphatics in health and disease: advances and controversies.” 

The article highlights the emerging recognition of meningeal lymphatic vessels as a major outflow route for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) clearance, outlining their structural and functional diversity, regulatory mechanisms, and connections with intracranial and extracranial compartments. It further discusses how impaired CSF drainage contributes to the aging brain, neurodegenerative and immune disorders, traumatic brain injury, and stroke, while emphasizing therapeutic opportunities and unresolved controversies in the field.

For more detailed information, you can access the full article here: Nature Cardiovascular Research.   

New review article on “Glial phagocytosis for synapse and toxic proteins in neurodegenerative diseases” featured in Molecular Neurodegeneration.  

Our research center has published a review in Molecular Neurodegeneration entitled "Glial phagocytosis for synapse and toxic proteins in neurodegenerative diseases". The article highlights the phagocytic roles of glia under both physiological and pathological conditions, with a special focus on their interactions with misfolded protein aggregates, including amyloid beta, tau, alpha synuclein, prion, huntingtin, and TAR DNA-binding protein 43. Additionally, it explores the current understanding of the fate of ingested materials following glial phagocytosis, and further discusses potential strategies for harnessing glial phagocytic activity in therapeutic applications.

For more detailed information, you can access the full article here: Molecular Neurodegeneration. 

The article titled “NR3C1-mediated epigenetic regulation suppresses astrocytic immune responses in mice” has recently been published in Nature Communications.  

The article titled “NR3C1-mediated epigenetic regulation suppresses astrocytic immune responses in mice” uncovers how the glucocorticoid receptor NR3C1 shapes long-term immune responses in the brain. Researchers performed integrative multi-omics profiling of astrocytes across developmental stages and identified 55 stage-specific transcription factors. Surprisingly, mice lacking NR3C1 in astrocytes showed no developmental abnormalities, but upon induction of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), they exhibited exacerbated immune responses. This was traced to early epigenetic reprogramming, where NR3C1 loss altered cis-regulatory elements, priming astrocytes for heightened inflammatory activation later in life.

This work highlights a previously unrecognized developmental window where NR3C1 safeguards astrocytes against maladaptive immune responses, providing new insight into astrocytic vulnerability in neuroinflammatory diseases. The study was conducted by a team led by Associate Director Won-Suk Chung, with Seongwan Park and Hyeonji Park as first authors, in collaboration with Inkyung Jung at KAIST.

For more detailed information, you can access the full article here: Nature Communications

This article is summarized and highlighted in Comment, as titled "NRC31 limits the imprinting of astrocyte epigenetic inflammatory memory early in life".  

Nasal ciliated cells are primary targets for SARS-CoV-2 replication in early stage of COVID 19

Lymphatic vessel in lacteal