Year 2

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that results in demyelination and axonal loss, culminating in extensive disability through defects in neurologic function. The demyelination that defines MS pathology is progressive over time; however, studies indicate that myelin repair can occur during the course of disease in patients with MS and in animal models designed to mimic the immunopathogenesis of MS. While it is generally thought that endogenous oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) are largely responsible for spontaneous remyelination, it is unclear why these cells are only able to transiently induce myelin repair in the presence of ongoing disease. Along these lines, two therapies for demyelinating diseases look promising; implanting OPCs into sites of neuroinflammation that are directly capable of inducing remyelination of the damaged axons and/or modifying the local environment to stimulate and support remyelination by endogenous OPCs. Indeed, we have shown that human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived oligodendrocytes surgically implanted into the spinal cords of mice with virally induced demyelination promoted focal remyelination and axonal sparing. We are currently investigating how the implanted OPCs positionally migrate to areas of on-going demyelination and the role these cells play in repairing the damaged CNS. The purpose of this research is to identify the underlying mechanism(s) responsible for hESC-induced remyelination.