The Emerging Role of Immunoglobulins and Complement in the Stimulation of Neuronal Activity and Repair: Not as Simple as We Thought

Abstract

Neurologic disorders such as traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and drug-resistant epilepsy have a high socioeconomic impact around the world. Current therapies for these disorders are often not effective. This creates a demand for the development of new therapeutic approaches to treat these disorders. Recent data suggest that autoreactive naturally occurring immunoglobulins produced by subsets of B cells, called B1 B cells, combined with complement, are actively involved in the processes of restoration of neuronal functions during pathological conditions and remyelination. The focus of this review is to discuss the possibility of creating specific therapeutic antibodies that can activate and fix complement to enhance neuronal survival and promote central nervous system repair after injuries associated with many types of neurodegenerative diseases.

Keywords

• central nervous system (CNS)
• neurodegeneration
• CNS repair
• complement
• immediate early genes (IEGs)
• immunoglobulins