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Macrophages in Alzheimer’s disease: the blood-borne identity

2010; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 117; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/s00702-010-0422-7

1435-1463

David Gate, Kavon Rezai‐Zadeh, Dominique Jodry, Altan Rentsendorj, Terrence Town,

Immune cells in cancer

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disorder clinically characterized by cognitive decline involving loss of memory, reasoning and linguistic ability. The amyloid cascade hypothesis holds that mismetabolism and aggregation of neurotoxic amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides, which are deposited as amyloid plaques, are the central etiological events in AD. Recent evidence from AD mouse models suggests that blood-borne mononuclear phagocytes are capable of infiltrating the brain and restricting β-amyloid plaques, thereby limiting disease progression. These observations raise at least three key questions: (1) what is the cell of origin for macrophages in the AD brain, (2) do blood-borne macrophages impact the pathophysiology of AD and (3) could these enigmatic cells be therapeutically targeted to curb cerebral amyloidosis and thereby slow disease progression? This review begins with a historical perspective of peripheral mononuclear phagocytes in AD, and moves on to critically consider the controversy surrounding their identity as distinct from brain-resident microglia and their potential impact on AD pathology.