Research
An astrocyte-microglia MFG-E8 axis promotes synapse engulfment in early amyloid pathology
Neuron · By Dimitra Sokolova, Francesca Puletti, Shari Addington Ghansah, Tatiana Georgiades, Yongjing Zheng, Ling Wu, Sebastiaan De Schepper, Jenny Lange, Laís S.S. Ferreira, Annerieke Sierksma, Julie Rebejac, Gerard Crowley, Javier Rueda-Carrasco, Bethany Geary, Raja Nirujogi, Angeliki Koutsiouroumpa, Philip Muckett, Josef Kittler, Matthew Gentry, Mathieu Bourdenx, Oliver J. Freeman, Jemima J. Burden, Baljit S. Khakh & Soyon Hong ·
The Brief
- Study identifies a regional perisynaptic astrocyte state in early amyloid pathology.
- Astrocyte-derived MFG-E8 promotes microglial synapse engulfment via β3 integrin.
- Early synapse loss tracks cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matters
Synapse loss is an early correlate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease, and this work points to a specific astrocyte-to-microglia signalling pathway that drives it, which could be a target for future interventions.
Who’s affected
- researchers studying Alzheimer's disease, glial biology and neuroinflammation
- #alzheimers
- #astrocytes
- #microglia
- #synapse-loss
- #amyloid
Early synapse loss tracks cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. Sokolova, Puletti, et al. identify a regional perisynaptic astrocyte state in early amyloid pathology and show that astrocyte-derived MFG-E8 promotes microglial synapse engulfment via β3 integrin. Suppressing…
Timeline
Study published in Neuron (cell.com)
cell.com
An astrocyte-microglia MFG-E8 axis promotes synapse engulfment in early amyloid pathology