The DOI matches its Crossref record; 411 of the 414 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Microglia: Agents of the CNS Pro-Inflammatory Response
Open accessAbstract
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.
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“Activated microglia migrate to the site of damage via a process called chemotaxis and release chemokines (e.g., CCL2 and CXCL1), pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., IL-12, IL-10, TNF, TGF-β), and a variety of other inflammatory mediators [341].”
From Revisiting the Pathogenesis of X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy (2025) · cites this paper as [341]
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Metadata
- Authors
- 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.
- Affiliations
- Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBIS)-Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío/CSIC/University of Seville, 41012 Seville, Spain
- Universidad de Sevilla (ES)
- Institute of Environmental Medicine, Toxicology Unit, Karolinska Institute, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (ES)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- Venue
- Cells
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-07-17
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1717
- ISSN
- 2073-4409 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7407646
- OpenAlex
- W3043443440
- Cited by
- 365
- References
- 414
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 80 · 2024: 69 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 71 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 9
- FWCI
- 4.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Cells (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- RISalud Institutional Health Repository of Andalucía (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Uppsala University Publications (Uppsala University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Deposito de Investigacion Universidad de Sevilla (University of Seville) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades /FEDER/UE (RTI2018-098645-B-100)
- FEDER I+D+i-USE (US-1265062)
- Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Programa Ramón y Cajal: RYC-2017-21804)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Inflammasome and immune disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neurological Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
- Keywords
- microglia, neuroinflammation, reactive microglia, homeostatic microglia, pattern recognition receptors, TLR4, TREM2, epigenetics, DNA methylation, microRNA, immunometabolism, exosomes, neurodegenerative diseases, iPSC-derived microglia
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Central Nervous System, Humans, Inflammation, Models, Biological, Microglia, Caspases, Epigenesis, Genetic
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