André Machado Xavier, Sarah Belhocine, David Gosselin
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引用次数: 1
Abstract
Microglia are the specialized macrophages of the brain and play essential roles in ensuring its proper functioning. Accumulating evidence suggests that these cells coordinate the inflammatory response that accompanies various clinical brain conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders. Therefore, investigating the functions of these cells and how these are regulated have become important areas of research in neuroscience over the past decade. In this regards, recent efforts to characterize the epigenomic mechanisms underlying microglial gene transcription have provided significant insights into the mechanisms that control the ontogeny and the cellular competences of microglia. In particular, these studies have established that a substantial proportion of the microglial repertoire of promoter-distal genomic regulatory elements, or enhancers, is relatively specific to these cells compared to other tissue-resident macrophages. Notably, this specificity is under the regulation of factors present in the brain that modulate activity of target axes of signaling pathways-transcription factors in microglia. Thus, the microglial enhancer repertoire is highly responsive to perturbations in the cerebral tissue microenvironment and this responsiveness has profound implications on the activity of these cells in brain diseases. This article is categorized under: Physiology > Mammalian Physiology in Health and Disease Models of Systems Properties and Processes > Mechanistic Models Biological Mechanisms > Cell Fates Developmental Biology > Lineages.
期刊介绍:
Journal Name:Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews-Systems Biology and Medicine
Focus:
Strong interdisciplinary focus
Serves as an encyclopedic reference for systems biology research
Conceptual Framework:
Systems biology asserts the study of organisms as hierarchical systems or networks
Individual biological components interact in complex ways within these systems
Article Coverage:
Discusses biology, methods, and models
Spans systems from a few molecules to whole species
Topical Coverage:
Developmental Biology
Physiology
Biological Mechanisms
Models of Systems, Properties, and Processes
Laboratory Methods and Technologies
Translational, Genomic, and Systems Medicine