IMM-BBB: development of tools to study immunological changes of the blood-brain barrier in support for neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease

The blood brain barrier (BBB) is crucial for proper functioning of our brain. People with progressive MS or Alzheimer’s disease are suffering from a hampered BBB function. To date, the cause of this impaired function is unknown. AUMC, Biolamina, Confocal, Eyesiu, Mimetas, Standard BioTools and UMCG have teamed up in IMM-BBB to generate human models to discover the underlying cause of these diseases.

Worldwide more that 50 million people suffer from neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and progressive MS. In 2050, this number is expected to increase to 100 million affected people. As a consequence, the healthcare costs of people with neurodegenerative diseases are expected to exceed any other healthcare costs especially in Europe since most day-to-day care is provided by younger family members.

IMM-BBB will use post-mortem material from people with MS and Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, IMM-BBB is able to generate all cell types of the BBB from stem cells of a single person. With this technology two human models will be created. One model in which blood vessel formation will be studied for Alzheimer’s disease. In the second model passage of immune cells across the BBB will be studied for. progressive MS.