brainINVASION

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a devastating neurologic condition that affects millions of patients annually. Despite TBI prevalence and severe consequences, currently available therapies only aim to treat acute effects with no precise approach against the lifelong negative outcomes of TBI besides physical and occupational therapies. The most well-characterized effects of TBI are excitotoxicity, brain edema, and neuroinflammation. However, most clinical trials focused on such features have failed or showed to be effective only to treat side-effects without long-term impact.

Therefore, the brainINVASION project aimed to demonstrate that neutrophils are capable of migrating through the blood-brain barrier (BBB), exploiting paracellular or transcellular routes of transport within the BBB, in the context of TBI. We also postulated that this transmigration of neutrophils is mediated by CXCL8, through activation of its receptor CXCR2.

In this way, the project addressed the lack of specific TBI therapeutic approaches, uncovering the transmigration of neutrophils as the key mediator of the deleterious outcomes of TBI regarding brain function, providing the CXCL8-CXCR2 axis as an innovative therapy.