Annexin A1: a central player in the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective role of microglia.

ABSTRACT: The brain microenvironment is continuously monitored by microglia with the detection of apoptotic cells or pathogens being rapidly followed by their phagocytosis to prevent inflammatory responses. The protein annexin A1 (ANXA1) is key to the phagocytosis of apoptotic leukocytes during peripheral inflammatory resolution, but the pathophysiological significance of its expression in the CNS that is restricted almost exclusively to microglia is unclear. In this study, we test the hypothesis that ANXA1 is important in the microglial clearance of apoptotic neurons in both noninflammatory and inflammatory conditions. We have identified ANXA1 to be sparingly expressed in microglia of normally aged human brains and to be more strongly expressed in Alzheimer's disease. Using an in vitro model compri

SUBMITTER: McArthur S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3145124 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature