Cited by 211Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsAlzheimer's disease research and treatmentsPhagocytosis and Immune Regulation

Microglial Phagocytosis: A Disease-Associated Process Emerging from Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics

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Podleśny-Drabiniok, Anna, Marcora, Edoardo, Goate, Alison M.·2020·Trends in Neurosciences

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating, chronic neurodegenerative disease. Genetic studies involving genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analysis have discovered numerous genomic loci associated with AD; however, the causal genes and variants remain unidentified in most loci. Integration of GWAS signals with epigenomic annotations has demonstrated that AD risk variants are enriched in myeloid-specific enhancers, implicating myeloid cells in AD etiology. AD risk variants in these regulatory elements modify disease susceptibility by regulating the expression of genes that play crucial roles in microglial phagocytosis. Several of these AD risk genes are specifically expressed in myeloid cells, whereas others are ubiquitously expressed but are regulated by AD risk variants within myeloid enhancers in a cell type-specific manner. We discuss the impact of established AD risk variants on microglial phagocytosis and debris processing via the endolysosomal system.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.tins.2020.10.002

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  • Under normal conditions, microglia help maintain homeostasis by providing neurotrophic support and clearing harmful substances, such as amyloid plaques, through phagocytosis.

    “Under normal conditions, they help maintain homeostasis by providing neurotrophic support and clearing harmful substances, such as amyloid plaques, through phagocytosis [8, 9, 10].”

    From Targeting Microglial Transcriptional Reprogramming as a Therapy Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease (2026) · cites this paper as [10]

    The ‘Mechanism of Microglial Phagocytosis’ section says microglial clearance of tissue debris helps maintain homeostasis. The ‘Phagocytic Receptors’ section discusses a clearance response to Aβ plaques in AD models, but describes this as a switch away from homeostatic microglia. Our copy does not describe microglia providing neurotrophic support, or clearing amyloid plaques under normal conditions. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Cass4 is predominantly expressed by microglia in the brain.

    “As previously reported, we found that Cass4 is predominantly expressed by microglia in the brain (Fig. S1 G; Lee et al., 2023; Podlesny-Drabiniok et al., 2020).”

    From Alzheimer’s genetic risk factor CASS4 controls microglial focal adhesion biology and amyloidosis (2026) · cites this paper as Podlesny-Drabiniok et al., 2020

    The Cytoskeleton section identifies CASS4 as an Alzheimer’s-associated gene involved in macrophage migration, but does not say where it is predominantly expressed in the brain. Searches for CASS4 expression and microglial enrichment found no passage making that comparison; the section explicitly discusses microglial expression for ABI3 instead. No page number was available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.72)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Cass4 appears to be expressed only by microglia among brain-resident cell types.

    “Of the brain-resident cell types, Cass4 appears to be ex­ pressed only by microglia (Lee et al., 2023; Podlesny-Drabiniok et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2014).”

    From Alzheimer’s genetic risk factor CASS4 controls microglial focal adhesion biology and amyloidosis (2026) · cites this paper as Podlesny-Drabiniok et al., 2020

    The Cytoskeleton section (page unavailable) discusses CASS4 as an Alzheimer’s-associated locus and its role in macrophage migration, but does not state which brain-resident cells express it. Searches for CASS4 expression and comparisons among brain cell types found no passage establishing that it is expressed only by microglia. (LLM, conf=0.72)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The phagocytic activity of microglia is crucial for the removal of Aβ, tau, and α-synuclein.

    “The phagocytic activity of microglia is crucial for the removal of Aβ,94 tau,95 and α-synuclein.96”
  • Microglial phagocytic activity becomes dysfunctional during aging and neurodegenerative diseases, resulting in the gradual accumulation of toxic compounds and cognitive decline.

    “However, microglial phagocytic activity becomes dysfunctional during aging and neurodegenerative diseases, resulting in the gradual accumulation of toxic compounds and cognitive decline.93,94”

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Authors
Podleśny-Drabiniok, A., Marcora, E., & Goate, A. M.
Affiliations
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
Corresponding author
Goate, Alison M.
Venue
Trends in Neurosciences
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-12
Volume
43
Issue
12
Pages
965-979
ISSN
0166-2236 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3095321129
Cited by
211
References
123
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 60 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 24
FWCI
2.29
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Trends in Neurosciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute on Aging (U01 AG052411, RF1AG054011, U01AG058635)
  • JPB Foundation
  • Neurodegeneration Consortium
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Phagocytosis and Immune Regulation
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease, microglial phagocytosis, myeloid cells, genome-wide association study, endolysosomal system, debris removal, neurodegeneration, causal genes
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Humans, Phagocytosis, Microglia, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Genome-Wide Association Study

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