Central nervous system diseases are currently the biggest burden on healthcare systems in all countries of the world. At present, in the EU, the treatment and care of these diseases cost EUR 798 billion over a year, e.g. in 2012, one and a half times higher than for the most expensive diseases that followed, such as cancer and circulatory diseases. According to the trend, in 20-30 years, every second person will suffer from some central nervous system disease, which may put a heavy burden on healthcare systems. Understanding and treatment of brain diseases is of paramount importance, which requires a high-quality, multifaceted and coordinated research-network strategy from both clinical and discovery researchers. Diseases associated with neurodegenerative processes, Alzheimer’s disease, Prakinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, neurotrauma, make up a significant proportion of brain diseases that result in loss of nerve structures and impairment of function. In most of these diseases, the underlying causes are unknown and our therapeutic options are limited. Over the last decade, there is more and more evidence that inflammation and neuroinflammatory processes play a significant role in the development of neurodegenerative processes. Experimental data suggest that increases in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine levels and astrocite and microglia activation play a critical role in neurodegenerative processes, but the exact mechanism is still unknown. If there is an opportunity to better understand these processes and to reduce neuroinflammation and microglia activation, significant progress could also be made in the treatment of neurodegenerative pathologies. According to recent research data, transcortical magnetic stimulation (TMS) may be one of the therapeutic options as it can significantly reduce neuroinflammatory processes and glia activation in these diseases. A consortium of clinical and discovery research teams of PTE IE, KE and ÁTE with significant international embedding aims to systematically examine the neuroinflammatoric processes that lead to neurodegeneration, as well as efforts to develop therapeutic options for these pathologies. The consortium’s research teams with international reputation for discovery research examine pro- and anti-inflammatory signal transmission processes, as well as the mechanism of microglia/astrocita activation, using the most up-to-date instruments already in place in their laboratory, e.g. live cell superresolution/individual-molecule detection microscope systems, in vivo single cell electrophysiology, transgenic technology, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s pathological, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis models. Clinical research teams use technology unique in the country (e.g. PET-MRI) to investigate the correlation of the presence of cytokines and how microglia activation is related to the observed syndrome. Discovery research has shown that TMS can provide a promising solution in the treatment of neurodegenerative processes through the reduction of neuroinflammation, but we have relatively little clinical experience. Therefore, the international research teams of the consortium conducting clinical research, with extensive experience in Magnetic Magnzonance Imaging (MRI), acquire a highly accurate TMS system (NEXSTIM TMS) driven by computer navigation based on MRI, which is a nationally niche instrument. The role of NEXSTIM TMS in the targeted treatment of certain neurodegenerative pathologies is examined. The instrument to be procured can not only be of significant assistance in the development of therapeutic options, but can also serve as a ‘core facility’ for studies to identify the background of neurodegenerative diseases. The consortium research involves several EU and non-EU collaboration partners (University of Cambridge, Kings College London, Charite Berlin, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, University of Messina, Italy, UCLA, University of Otago, University of Auckland, University of ICeMS imaging center Kyoto University, Japan), which, in addition to increasing the research potential, also serve as a basis for further joint successful H2020 applications. The Central-Hungarian Region, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences KOKI, will also be involved in research teams with a significant international reputation, which have extensive experience in microglia research, and with their existing technologies help the consortium to carry out its research tasks. The Consortium considers the improvement of youth education to be an important task. Therefore, the Consortium puts great emphasis on improving and expanding PhD training by launching PhD courses and joint courses, including successful participation in EU applications (RISE).
