+1 (629)348-3199Anti-NMDA receptor antibodies and CNS Lupus
2nd International Conference on Central Nervous System and Therapeutics
June 10-11, 2019 | Edinburgh, Scotland
Czeslawa Kowal
The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts : J Neurol Neurorehabil Res
Abstract:
Cognitive impairment, one of the most prevalent (40-90%)
and most debilitating symptoms in neuropsychiatric lupus
(NPSLE), is a result of poorly defined pathological processes
in the brain of lupus patients. Most of the pathological
processes leading to characteristic of lupus multiple organ
damage, are mediated by autoantibodies and autoantibodies
containing complexes. In our mouse model of NPSLE a subset
of such autoantibodies, anti-dsDNA antibodies cross-reactive
with NMDA receptor (DNRAbs) mediate acute neuronal
damage and subsequent long-term alteration in neuronal
arborization and synaptic density, leading to spatial memory
impairment. Of interest, DNRAbs are associated with spatial
memory impairment in lupus patients. We demonstrated a
critical role of activated microglia and C1q in this pathology,
as the pathology does not occur in C1Q-/- mice, or in mice
depleted of microglia. More importantly, we showed in the
mouse model, that captopril and perindopril, both centrally
acting angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, can
suppress microglia activation and preserve neuronal integrity
and function, including cognitive performance.
ACE inhibitors are widely used to control hypertension and
are usually well tolerated. This opens the opportunity to
consider the use ACE inhibitors in clinical trials to improve
cognitive impairment in NPSLE patients.
Current studies are undertaken to learn more about the
mechanisms of neuronal injury and of complement and
microglia involvement in these processes.
Biography:
Czeslawa Kowal has completed her PhD from The Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. She is associate professor of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell, USA. She has over 40 publications that have been cited over 1500 times, and her publication H-index is 16.
E-mail: ckowal@northwell.edu
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