Microglia replacement by ER-Hoxb8 conditionally immortalized macrophages provides insight into Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome neuropathology.

ABSTRACT: Microglia, the brain's resident macrophages, can be reconstituted by surrogate cells - a process termed 'microglia replacement'. To expand the microglia replacement toolkit, we here introduce estrogen-regulated (ER) homeobox B8 (Hoxb8) conditionally immortalized macrophages, a cell model for generation of immune cells from murine bone marrow, as a versatile model for microglia replacement. We find that ER-Hoxb8 macrophages are highly comparable to primary bone marrow-derived macrophages in vitro, and, when transplanted into a microglia-free brain, engraft the parenchyma and differentiate into microglia-like cells. Furthermore, ER-Hoxb8 progenitors are readily transducible by virus and easily stored as stable, genetically manipulated cell lines. As a demonstration of this system's power for

SUBMITTER: Nemec KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12844908 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature