Defective phagocytosis leads to neurodegeneration through systemic increased innate immune signaling.

ABSTRACT: In nervous system development, disease, and injury, neurons undergo programmed cell death, leaving behind cell corpses that are removed by phagocytic glia. Altered glial phagocytosis has been implicated in several neurological diseases including Alzheimer's disease. To untangle the links between glial phagocytosis and neurodegeneration, we investigated Drosophila mutants lacking the phagocytic receptor Draper. Loss of Draper leads to persistent neuronal cell corpses and age-dependent neurodegeneration. Here we investigate whether the phagocytic defects observed in draper mutants lead to chronic increased immune activation that promotes neurodegeneration. We found that the antimicrobial peptide Attacin-A is highly upregulated in the fat body of aged draper mutants and t

SUBMITTER: Elguero JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10579427 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature