| 1. |
- Bachiller, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Microglia in neurological diseases : A road map to brain-disease dependent-inflammatory response
- 2018
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1662-5102. ; 12
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Microglia represent a specialized population of macrophages-like cells in the central nervous system (CNS) considered immune sentinels that are capable of orchestrating a potent inflammatory response. Microglia are also involved in synaptic organization, trophic neuronal support during development, phagocytosis of apoptotic cells in the developing brain, myelin turnover, control of neuronal excitability, phagocytic debris removal as well as brain protection and repair. Microglial response is pathology dependent and affects to immune, metabolic. In this review, we will shed light on microglial activation depending on the disease context and the influence of factors such as aging, environment or cell-to-cell interaction.
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| 2. |
- Jewett, Michael, et al.
(författare)
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Glutathione S-transferase alpha 4 prevents dopamine neurodegeneration in a rat alpha-synuclein model of Parkinson's disease
- 2018
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Neurology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-2295. ; 9:APR
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common, progressive neurodegenerative disease, which typically presents itself with a range of motor symptoms, like resting tremor, bradykinesia, and rigidity, but also non-motor symptoms such as fatigue, constipation, and sleep disturbance. Neuropathologically, PD is characterized by loss of dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and Lewy bodies, neuronal inclusions containing a-synuclein (a-syn). Mutations and copy number variations of SNCA, the gene encoding a-syn, are linked to familial PD and common SNCA gene variants are associated to idiopathic PD. Large-scale genome-wide association studies have identified risk variants across another 40 loci associated to idiopathic PD. These risk variants do not, however, explain all the genetic contribution to idiopathic PD. The rat Vra1 locus has been linked to neuroprotection after nerve- and brain injury in rats. Vra1 includes the glutathione S-transferase alpha 4 (Gsta4) gene, which encodes a protein involved in clearing lipid peroxidation by-products. The DA.VRA1 congenic rat strain, carrying PVG alleles in Vra1 on a DA strain background, was recently reported to express higher levels of Gsta4 transcripts and to display partial neuroprotection of SNpc dopaminergic neurons in a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) induced model for PD. Since a-syn expression increases the risk for PD in a dose-dependent manner, we assessed the neuroprotective effects of Vra1 in an a-syn-induced PD model. Human wild-type a-syn was overexpressed by unilateral injections of the rAAV6-a-syn vector in the SNpc of DA and DA.VRA1 congenic rats. Gsta4 gene expression levels were significantly higher in the striatum and midbrain of DA.VRA1 compared to DA rats at 3 weeks post surgery, in both the ipsilateral and contralateral sides. At 8 weeks post surgery, DA.VRA1 rats suffered significantly lower fiber loss in the striatum and lower loss of dopaminergic neurons in the SNpc compared to DA. Immunofluorescent stainings showed co-expression of Gsta4 with Gfap at 8 weeks suggesting that astrocytic expression of Gsta4 underlies Vra1-mediated neuroprotection to a-syn induced pathology. This is the second PD model in which Vra1 is linked to protection of the nigrostriatal pathway, solidifying Gsta4 as a potential therapeutic target in PD.
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| 3. |
- Swanberg, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Immunogenetics of Parkinson's disease
- 2018
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Ingår i: Parkinson’s Disease : Pathogenesis and Clinical Aspects - Pathogenesis and Clinical Aspects. - : Codon Publications. - 9780994438164 ; , s. 27-44
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inflammation is a key feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In postmortem PD brains, microglial activation and enhanced major histocompatibility class II (MHCII) expression are seen concomitant to the accumulation of alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein) and loss of dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra. Recent findings showed that α-synuclein epitopes can be presented and recognized by T-cells. PD is not a single disorder; rather, it encompasses a range of clinical, epidemiological, and genetic subtypes. Around 10% of the cases have a monogenic origin, and several of the disease-causing mutations are linked to inflammatory processes. The remaining 90% of the cases are complex, where environmental and genetic risk factors synergize to induce PD pathology. To date, 41 genetic loci have been identified in genome-wide association studies as associated with PD risk, and among these, two are within the HLA region, coding for immune genes including MHCII. Thus, genetic and immune findings indicate that the immune system has a role in the etiology of PD. Experimentally, inflammatory stimuli can cause selective nigral cell loss in preclinical models of PD, and MHCII is required to elicit α-synuclein-induced pathology in mice. In this chapter, we focus on immunogenetics, that is, the relation between genetic risk factors and immune processes in PD.
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