VEGF-C-driven lymphatic drainage enables immunosurveillance of brain tumours

The article was published on Nature in January 2020. The authors Eric Song et al. (Department of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA) found that VEGF-C-driven lymphatic drainage enables immunosurveillance of brain tumours in a mouse model of glioblastoma.

Background & Aims & Conclusions

Immune surveillance against pathogens and tumours in the central nervous system is thought to be limited owing to the lack of lymphatic drainage. However, the characterization of the meningeal lymphatic network has shed light on previously unappreciated ways that an immune response can be elicited to antigens that are expressed in the brain.

Despite progress in our understanding of the development and structure of the meningeal lymphatic system, the contribution of this network in evoking a protective antigen-specifc immune response in the brain remains unclear. This study aims to explore the importance of the meningeal lymphatic network in controlling immune responses in the CNS.

They have demonstrated that ectopic expression of VEGF-C has the potential to manipulate meningeal lymphatics, and thereby enables immune surveillance and T-cell-mediated immunity against brain tumours.

The CSF, meninges, brain and serum were collected after two months (AAV-CTRL, AAV-VEGF-C), after 24 h (GFP mRNA, VEGFC mRNA) or at days 7 and 28 after tumour inoculation, and an ELISA was performed to detect VEGF-C using a mouse VEGF-C ELISA Kit (CSB-E07361m) following the manufacturers instructions.