"Discovery of calnexin protein’s role in the blood-brain barrier could lead to new MS treatments."
A new study from the University of Alberta and McGill University in Canada, "the researchers unexpectedly found that MS brains have extremely high content of a protein named calnexin, compared to those without MS. When the researchers tested the susceptibility of mice lacking calnexin to the mouse model of human MS (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis), they were astonished to find that the mice were completely resistant to the disease."
When there is too much calnexin, the blood brain barrier is compromised and gives T cells access to the brain, where they destroy myelin.
"The seemingly paradoxical results of this study, demonstrating that calnexin deficiency leads to dysmyelination and impaired peripheral motor function (18-20) while conferring protection against inflammation of the CNS in response to induction of EAE, suggest that calnexin is important for myelin formation, but in EAE, an elevated abundance of calnexin is associated with the pathogenic cascade that eventually culminates in the progressive destruction of the myelin."
https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/98410