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Review

Microglia: Agents of the CNS Pro-Inflammatory Response

1
Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBIS)-Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío/CSIC/University of Seville, 41012 Seville, Spain
2
Department of Medical Physiology and Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Seville, 41009 Sevilla, Spain
3
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Seville, 41012 Seville, Spain
4
Institute of Environmental Medicine, Toxicology Unit, Karolinska Institute, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden
5
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Analytical Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Uppsala University, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
6
Division of Brain Sciences, The John Fulcher Molecular Neuro-Oncology Laboratory, Imperial College London, London W12 ONN, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Equal contributions.
Cells 2020, 9(7), 1717; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9071717
Received: 14 June 2020 / Revised: 14 July 2020 / Accepted: 15 July 2020 / Published: 17 July 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuroinflammation in Neurodegenerative and Neurological Diseases)
The pro-inflammatory immune response driven by microglia is a key contributor to the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases. Though the research of microglia spans over a century, the last two decades have increased our understanding exponentially. Here, we discuss the phenotypic transformation from homeostatic microglia towards reactive microglia, initiated by specific ligand binding to pattern recognition receptors including toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) or triggering receptors expressed on myeloid cells-2 (TREM2), as well as pro-inflammatory signaling pathways triggered such as the caspase-mediated immune response. Additionally, new research disciplines such as epigenetics and immunometabolism have provided us with a more holistic view of how changes in DNA methylation, microRNAs, and the metabolome may influence the pro-inflammatory response. This review aimed to discuss our current knowledge of pro-inflammatory microglia from different angles, including recent research highlights such as the role of exosomes in spreading neuroinflammation and emerging techniques in microglia research including positron emission tomography (PET) scanning and the use of human microglia generated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Finally, we also discuss current thoughts on the impact of pro-inflammatory microglia in neurodegenerative diseases. View Full-Text
Keywords: microglia; inflammation; TLR4; TREM2; caspases; epigenetics; metabolomics; iPSCs microglia; inflammation; TLR4; TREM2; caspases; epigenetics; metabolomics; iPSCs
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MDPI and ACS Style

Rodríguez-Gómez, J.A.; Kavanagh, E.; Engskog-Vlachos, P.; Engskog, M.K.R.; Herrera, A.J.; Espinosa-Oliva, A.M.; Joseph, B.; Hajji, N.; Venero, J.L.; Burguillos, M.A. Microglia: Agents of the CNS Pro-Inflammatory Response. Cells 2020, 9, 1717. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9071717

AMA Style

Rodríguez-Gómez JA, Kavanagh E, Engskog-Vlachos P, Engskog MKR, Herrera AJ, Espinosa-Oliva AM, Joseph B, Hajji N, Venero JL, Burguillos MA. Microglia: Agents of the CNS Pro-Inflammatory Response. Cells. 2020; 9(7):1717. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9071717

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rodríguez-Gómez, José A., Edel Kavanagh, Pinelopi Engskog-Vlachos, Mikael K.R. Engskog, Antonio J. Herrera, Ana M. Espinosa-Oliva, Bertrand Joseph, Nabil Hajji, José L. Venero, and Miguel A. Burguillos. 2020. "Microglia: Agents of the CNS Pro-Inflammatory Response" Cells 9, no. 7: 1717. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9071717

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