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T he microglial reaction signature revealed by RNA seq from individual mice
Author(s) -
Hirbec Hélène,
Marmai Camille,
DurouxRichard Isabelle,
Roubert Christine,
Esclangon Arnaud,
Croze Séverine,
Lachuer Joël,
Peyroutou Ronan,
Rassendren François
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
glia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.954
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1098-1136
pISSN - 0894-1491
DOI - 10.1002/glia.23295
Subject(s) - microglia , transcriptome , biology , inflammation , neuroscience , phenotype , immune system , computational biology , gene , immunology , gene expression , genetics
Microglial cells have a double life as the immune cells of the brain in times of stress but have also specific physiological functions in homeostatic conditions. In pathological contexts, microglia undergo a phenotypic switch called “reaction” that promotes the initiation and the propagation of neuro‐inflammation. Reaction is complex, molecularly heterogeneous and still poorly characterized, leading to the concept that microglial reactivity might be too diverse to be molecularly defined. However, it remains unknown whether reactive microglia from different pathological contexts share a common molecular signature. Using improved flow cytometry and RNAseq approaches we studied, with higher statistical power, the remodeling of microglia transcriptome in a mouse model of sepsis. Through bioinformatic comparison of our results with published datasets, we defined the microglial reactome as a set of genes discriminating reactive from homeostatic microglia. Ultimately, we identified a subset of 86 genes deregulated in both acute and neurodegenerative conditions. Our data provide a new comprehensive resource that includes functional analysis and specific molecular markers of microglial reaction which represent new tools for its unambiguous characterization.