Neuroinflammatory responses may be dependent on the initiation of innate immune responses triggered by the stimulation of intrinsic brain cells by pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), repeated structural motifs generated by microbes that are not normally found in the host or by debris from apoptotic or necrotic cells following injury. However, there is a lack of basic understanding of which cell types in the brain respond to stimulation of PRRs, as well as the pathways of neuroinflammation, neuroprotection and/or neuronal damage induced when these PRRs are activated on different cell types. Understanding the mechanism of PRR-induced activation of different cell types in the CNS is important for understanding viral pathogenesis as well as identifying potential pathways for therapeutic treatments. Our laboratory has focused on understanding the response of intrinsic brain cells following PRR activation or during virus infection and determining the downstream effects of innate immune activation on neuroinflammation and neuropathogenesis. In FY2014, we examined age related differences in neuroinflammatory responses and demonstrated that microglia in neonates are more responsive to immune stimuli and inducing inflammatory responses than microglia in adults (Christensen, L.B. et.al. J. Neuroinflamm. 2014). We further examined the differences in this population and demonstrated that expression of the SLAMF7 associated with this inflammatory microglia phenotype. In addition, we collaborated with investigators at Tulane University to demonstrate that damaged oligodendrocytes induced TLR2-mediated activation of microglia and inflammation in a mouse model of globoid cell leukodystrophy (Snook, E.R. et.al. Am. J. Pathol, 2014). Additionally, we provided additional analysis of our previous studies as well as recent publications by others on the potential mechanisms by which microRNAs regulated neuronal responses through interactions with TLR7 (Winkler, C.W., et.al. Science Signal., 2014)
Showing the most recent 10 out of 14 publications
