Immune Cells Drive Congenital Paralysis Disease

Microglia (magenta) interact with T cells (yellow) in the central nervous system of SPG15-deficient mice. Source: AG Stumm/Universität Jena

New insights into “spastic paraplegia type 15”

Patients with spastic paraplegia type 15 develop movement disorders during adolescence that may ultimately require the use of a wheelchair. In the early stages of this rare hereditary disease the brain appears to play a major role by over-activating the immune system, as shown by a recent paper based on studies in mice published in the “Journal of Experimental Medicine”. The research was led by scientists at the University of Bonn and DZNE, who collaborated with experts at Jena University Hospital. These findings could also be relevant for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Original publication
Microglia and CD8+ T cell activation precede neuronal loss in a murine model of spastic paraplegia 15
Aleksej Frolov et al.
JEM (2025).
DOI: 10.1084/jem.20232357

Video summary

_{April 2025}