Host-microbe Interactions at the Blood-brain Barrier Through the Lens of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Brain-like Endothelial Cells

Overview

Journal mBio

Publisher American Society for Microbiology

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2024 Jan 9

PMID 38193670

Authors

Nadine Vollmuth

Jon Sin

Brandon J Kim

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Microbe-induced meningoencephalitis/meningitis is a life-threatening infection of the central nervous system (CNS) that occurs when pathogens are able to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and gain access to the CNS. The BBB consists of highly specialized brain endothelial cells that exhibit specific properties to allow tight regulation of CNS homeostasis and prevent pathogen crossing. However, during meningoencephalitis/meningitis, the BBB fails to protect the CNS. Modeling the BBB remains a challenge due to the specialized characteristics of these cells. In this review, we cover the induced pluripotent stem cell-derived, brain-like endothelial cell model during host-pathogen interaction, highlighting the strengths and recent work on various pathogens known to interact with the BBB. As stem cell technologies are becoming more prominent, the stem cell-derived, brain-like endothelial cell model has been able to reveal new insights which remain challenging with other cell-based models consisting of primary human brain endothelial cells and immortalized human brain endothelial cell lines.

Citing Articles

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