Scientists have identified a promising target for treatment of a devastating autoimmune disease affecting the brain.

The discovery could lead to the development of new therapies for a disease triggered by an attack on one of the key neurotransmitter receptors in the brain, the NMDA receptor. It also raises the potential for a blood test to detect a signal of the condition and enable earlier treatment with existing therapies.

The study from Oregon Health & Science University published today in the journal Science Advances.

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Gouaux Lab
Westbrook Lab

A new study has identified a critical “pressure sensor” inside the kidney that helps the body control blood pressure and fluid levels. The finding helps explain how the kidneys sense changes in blood volume — something scientists for decades have known occurs but didn’t have a mechanistic explanation.

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Hill Lab

Arpy Saunders, Ph.D., assistant scientist at the OHSU Vollum Institute, and colleagues have discovered that the rabies virus interacts with human brain cell types in unexpected ways. Using single-cell molecular analysis, they found that rabies normally stays “stealthy” by blocking the brain’s innate immune defenses. When this ability was removed, infection spiked in a rare group of astrocytes — support cells that play vital roles in brain function. The findings reveal how the brain balances protection and vulnerability during viral attack and highlight astrocytes as key players in future efforts to understand and treat brain infections. Their findings were just published in Cell Reports.

Saunders lab