Project description:In murine glioma models, TLR2 is selectively upregulated in glioma-associated microglia. We found that TLR2 activation led to down-regulation of MHC-II in microglia. Therefore, we examined the effect of TLR2 activation on IFN-gamma-induced microglial transcriptome by in vitro culture of murine adult microglia. In the study, we confirmed that TLR2 activation led to Ciita shutdown and inhibition of MHC-II related genes, which also revealed the role of TLR2 in inducing APC disability and tumor immune escape. In addition, this work can be used to reveal the transcriptional characteristics of murine microglia during IFN-gamma and TLR2 activation.
Project description:Abnormal accumulation of aggregated proteins and sustained microglial activation are important contributors of neurodegenerative process in neurological diseases. Recent studies have shown that aggregation-prone proteins, such as a-synuclein, the protein implicated in Parkinson’s disease (PD), are released from neuronal cells and thus present in the extracellular fluid, pointing to the possible paracrine effects of these proteins on microglial immune responses. However, the mechanism underlying the disease-associated microglial activation and the role of neuronal proteins in this process remain unknown. Here, we show that extracellular a-synuclein released from neuronal cells is an endogenous ligand of toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and activates microglia, which in turn induces neurodegeneration. Interaction between neuron-released a-synuclein and TLR2 and subsequent activation of the TLR2 signaling were demonstrated comprehensively by using computational modeling of signaling network and by the experimental validation in TLR2-deficient microglia both in vitro and in vivo. In contrast to the neuron-released a-synuclein, recombinant a-synuclein proteins, including monomer, oligomer, fibril, or nitrated forms, were not able to interact or activate TLR2, suggesting that neuronal cells have a mechanism of enriching specific forms of a-synuclein capable of activating TLR2 during the process of releasing this protein. Taken together, the results suggest that both neuron-released extracellular a-synuclein and TLR2 might be novel therapeutic targets for modifying neuroinflammation in PD and related neurodegenerative diseases. We collected culture media from differentiated SH-SY5Y cells overexpressing either human a-synuclein (alpha-SCM) or beta-galactosidase (LZCM) and treat these media to primary rat microglia at the concentration of a-synuclein of 1.1M. Transcriptome analyses with microglial cells treated with either aSCM or LZCM at two different time points, 6 h and 24 h.
Project description:Abnormal accumulation of aggregated proteins and sustained microglial activation are important contributors of neurodegenerative process in neurological diseases. Recent studies have shown that aggregation-prone proteins, such as a-synuclein, the protein implicated in Parkinson’s disease (PD), are released from neuronal cells and thus present in the extracellular fluid, pointing to the possible paracrine effects of these proteins on microglial immune responses. However, the mechanism underlying the disease-associated microglial activation and the role of neuronal proteins in this process remain unknown. Here, we show that extracellular a-synuclein released from neuronal cells is an endogenous ligand of toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and activates microglia, which in turn induces neurodegeneration. Interaction between neuron-released a-synuclein and TLR2 and subsequent activation of the TLR2 signaling were demonstrated comprehensively by using computational modeling of signaling network and by the experimental validation in TLR2-deficient microglia both in vitro and in vivo. In contrast to the neuron-released a-synuclein, recombinant a-synuclein proteins, including monomer, oligomer, fibril, or nitrated forms, were not able to interact or activate TLR2, suggesting that neuronal cells have a mechanism of enriching specific forms of a-synuclein capable of activating TLR2 during the process of releasing this protein. Taken together, the results suggest that both neuron-released extracellular a-synuclein and TLR2 might be novel therapeutic targets for modifying neuroinflammation in PD and related neurodegenerative diseases.
Project description:IFN-gamma is a classical microglial stimulant. We used microarrays to investigate the microglial gene regulatory network activated by interferon-gamma. Experiment Overall Design: Primary rat microglia cultures were established and maintained for 15 days. For activation studies, fresh media containing IFN-gamma (100 U/ml) were added and left overnight (16 hours). Total RNA was extraction and hybridized on Affymetrix microarrays (RG_U34A). Five arrays were run from total RNA derived from unstimulated 5 independent cultures (Mgl_CON1, Mgl_CON2, Mgl_CON3, Mgl_CON5 and Mgl_CON6). Three standard microglial cultures were stimulated (Mgl_IFNgamma_2 and Mgl_IFNgamma_3) with one of the samples analysed in triplicate as a technical control (Mgl_IFNgamma_1a, Mgl_IFNgamma_1b and Mgl_IFNgamma_1c).
Project description:IFN-gamma is a classical microglial stimulant. We used microarrays to investigate the microglial gene regulatory network activated by interferon-gamma. Keywords: Microglia activation
Project description:Microglia are the resident mononuclear phagocytes of the CNS parenchyma and represent an initial line of defense against invading microorganisms. Microglia utilize Toll-like receptors (TLRs) for pathogen recognition and TLR2 specifically senses conserved motifs of gram-positive bacteria including lipoproteins, lipoteichoic acids, and peptidoglycan (PGN) leading to cytokine/chemokine production. Interestingly, primary microglia derived from TLR2 knockout (KO) mice over-expressed numerous IL-12 family members, including IL-12p40, IL-12p70, and IL-27 in response to intact S. aureus, but not the less structurally complex TLR2 ligands Pam3CSK4 or PGN. The ability of intact bacteria to augment IL-12 family member expression was specific for gram-positive organisms, since numerous gram-negative strains were unable to elicit exaggerated responses in TLR2 KO microglia. Inhibition of SYK or IRAK4 signaling did not impact heightened IL-12 family member production in S. aureus-treated TLR2 KO microglia, whereas PI3K, MAPK, and JNK inhibitors were all capable of restoring exaggerated cytokine expression to wild type levels. Additionally, elevated IL-12 production in TLR2 KO microglia was ablated by a TLR9 antagonist, suggesting that TLR9 drives IL-12 family member production following exposure to intact bacteria that remains unchecked in the absence of TLR2 signaling. Collectively, these findings indicate crosstalk between TLR2 and TLR9 pathways to regulate IL-12 family member production by microglia. The summation of TLR signals must be tightly controlled to ensure the timely cessation and/or fine tuning of cytokine signaling to avoid nonspecific bystander damage due to sustained IL-12 release. TLR2 KO mice were backcrossed with C57BL/6 animals for a minimum of eight generations prior to use in these studies. Age- and sex-matched C57BL/6 mice were used as wild type (WT) controls. Primary mixed glial cultures were prepared from the cerebral corticies of neonatal mice (2-4 days of age) and microglia were harvested using a differential shaking technique with a purity of >98%. A USA300 community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) clinical isolate recovered from a patient with a fatal brain abscess was used to stimulate the microglia isolates. Bacterial strains were heat-inactivated and used to stimulate microglia at 107 colony forming units (cfu)/well for 6 and 12 hours time points. Three replicates of each mouse type (WT, TLR2 KO) at both time points 6 and 12 hours were used for the microarray experiments. Data was only usable for 2 replicates of the KO-12 hr group.
Project description:Microglia are the resident mononuclear phagocytes of the CNS parenchyma and represent an initial line of defense against invading microorganisms. Microglia utilize Toll-like receptors (TLRs) for pathogen recognition and TLR2 specifically senses conserved motifs of gram-positive bacteria including lipoproteins, lipoteichoic acids, and peptidoglycan (PGN) leading to cytokine/chemokine production. Interestingly, primary microglia derived from TLR2 knockout (KO) mice over-expressed numerous IL-12 family members, including IL-12p40, IL-12p70, and IL-27 in response to intact S. aureus, but not the less structurally complex TLR2 ligands Pam3CSK4 or PGN. The ability of intact bacteria to augment IL-12 family member expression was specific for gram-positive organisms, since numerous gram-negative strains were unable to elicit exaggerated responses in TLR2 KO microglia. Inhibition of SYK or IRAK4 signaling did not impact heightened IL-12 family member production in S. aureus-treated TLR2 KO microglia, whereas PI3K, MAPK, and JNK inhibitors were all capable of restoring exaggerated cytokine expression to wild type levels. Additionally, elevated IL-12 production in TLR2 KO microglia was ablated by a TLR9 antagonist, suggesting that TLR9 drives IL-12 family member production following exposure to intact bacteria that remains unchecked in the absence of TLR2 signaling. Collectively, these findings indicate crosstalk between TLR2 and TLR9 pathways to regulate IL-12 family member production by microglia. The summation of TLR signals must be tightly controlled to ensure the timely cessation and/or fine tuning of cytokine signaling to avoid nonspecific bystander damage due to sustained IL-12 release.
Project description:Microglia-mediated neuroinflammatory response in the early brain injury after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has been reported to have an impact on progress and the mechanism is not completely understood. Here, we performed genome-wide transcriptome analysis of microglia purified from damaged hemisphere of adult mice at 3 days after SAH or sham operation. Robust transcriptional changes were observed between SAH-induced and healthy microglia, indicating rapid activation of microglia after suffering SAH. We identified 1576 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; 928 up-regulated and 648 down-regulated) in SAH-induced microglia compared with sham microglia, representing a strong alteration of the genome (6.85% of total ~23,000 genes). Functional enrichment of these DEGs indicated that cell division, inflammatory response, cytokine production and leukocyte chemotaxis were strongly activated in SAH-induced microglia. Moreover, we identified and proved the TLR2/IRF7 signaling axis was involved in regulation of this microglia-mediated inflammation in SAH mice, by performing flow cytometry, immunofluorescence. Together, these results provided a perspective of microglia-mediated neuroinflammatory response in the early stage of SAH and might give a new therapeutic target for SAH.
Project description:human blood monocytes were isolated, activated and harvested at several timepoints In this study, we identified genes that were differentially expressed in human monocytes activated with eiter NOD2L and/or TLR2/1L. human blood monocytes were purified from healthy donors by Ficoll, Percoll and adherence. Monocytes were activated using NOD2L (MDP) and the TLR2/1L (19kD, triacylated peptide). Cells were harvested before activation (0h) and 6h and 24h after stimulation with ligands.
Project description:IFN-g primes macrophages for enhanced inflammatory activation by TLRs and microbial killing, but little is known about the regulation of cell metabolism or mRNA translation during priming. We found that IFN-g regulates macrophage metabolism and translation in an integrated manner by targeting mTORC1 and MNK pathways that converge on the selective regulator of translation initiation eIF4E. Physiological downregulation of the central metabolic regulator mTORC1 by IFN-g was associated with autophagy and translational suppression of repressors of inflammation such as HES1. Genome-wide ribosome profiling in TLR2-stimulated macrophages revealed that IFN-g selectively modulates the macrophage translatome to promote inflammation, further reprogram metabolic pathways, and modulate protein synthesis. These results add IFN-g-mediated metabolic reprogramming and translational regulation as key components of classical inflammatory macrophage activation. RPF and RNAseq libraries were generated from mock or IFN-g-primed human macrophages. Cells were stimulated with Pam3Cys and harvested at 4 hours. Libraries were generated using protocol modified from Illumina Truseq technology.