Silencing of TGFβ signalling in microglia results in impaired homeostasis

Nat Commun. 2018 Oct 1;9(1):4011. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06224-y.

Abstract

TGFβ1 has been implicated in regulating functional aspects of several distinct immune cell populations including central nervous system (CNS) resident microglia. Activation and priming of microglia have been demonstrated to contribute to the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and, thus, underlie stringent control by endogenous regulatory factors including TGFβ1. Here, we demonstrate that deletion of Tgfbr2 in adult postnatal microglia does neither result in impairment of the microglia-specific gene expression signatures, nor is microglial survival and maintenance affected. Tgfbr2-deficient microglia were characterised by distinct morphological changes and transcriptome analysis using RNAseq revealed that loss of TGFβ signalling results in upregulation of microglia activation and priming markers. Moreover, protein arrays demonstrated increased secretion of CXCL10 and CCL2 accompanied by activation of immune cell signalling as evidenced by increased phosphorylation of TAK1. Together, these data underline the importance of microglial TGFβ signalling to regulate microglia adaptive changes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Chemokine CCL2 / metabolism
  • Chemokine CXCL10 / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Silencing
  • Homeostasis*
  • MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Microglia / cytology
  • Microglia / metabolism*
  • Phosphorylation
  • Protein Array Analysis
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II / genetics
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / genetics*
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta / genetics*
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta / metabolism*

Substances

  • Ccl2 protein, mouse
  • Chemokine CCL2
  • Chemokine CXCL10
  • Cxcl10 protein, mouse
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta
  • MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases
  • MAP kinase kinase kinase 7
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II
  • Tgfbr2 protein, mouse