ArticleBrain : a journal of neurology2015
Reactive microglia drive tau pathology and contribute to the spreading of pathological tau in the brain.
Article in Brain : a journal of neurology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03702816 (The Relationship Between Neuropsychological Testing and MRI, PET and Blood Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Disease), which is not on this map. Cited by 370 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Relationship Between Neuropsychological Testing and MRI, PET and Blood Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Disease (COBRE - Project 1): AIM 2
Who cites it
370 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 599 citations in OpenAlex.
- Targeting cellular senescence with Traditional Chinese Medicine: advances in neurodegenerative disorder treatment.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Pooled it
- Neuroinflammatory fluid biomarkers in patients with Alzheimer's disease: a systematic literature review.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- A bibliometric analysis of the immune system and cognitive impairment: trends from 1985 to 2024.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- BCG vaccination mitigates tau pathology and restores cognitive function in PS19 mice.Science advances · 2026Article
- Microglial dynamics associate with the spatial pattern of tau deposition in early Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2026Observational
- The immunoproteasome in Alzheimer's disease: a dual regulator of tau pathology and microglial senescence.Inflammopharmacology · 2026Review
- Fyn kinase: a key mechanistic regulator and therapeutic target in tauopathy and neurodegenerative diseases.Translational neurodegeneration · 2026Review
- Protein kinase CK2α' as a dual modulator of neuroimmune signaling and synaptic dysfunction in tauopathy.Translational neurodegeneration · 2026Article
- Inflammation profiles in Alzheimer's disease relate to cognition and neurodegeneration.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Role Shift of Glial Cells from Physiology to Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease: The Regulatory Impact of Exercise.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- The roles of microglia and astrocytes in inflammasomes and neurological disorders.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- Review
- c-Jun in neurodegeneration: A key transcriptional regulator with therapeutic implications.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2026Review
- Visceral adipose tissue differentially affects tau and Aβ pathology in 3xTg-AD mice.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Article
- Mesenchymal stromal cells and neuroinflammation: a multimodal approach to neuroprotection and future therapeutic horizons.Translational neurodegeneration · 2026Review
- Abi3Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Timing of microglial ablation determines protection from tau-mediated neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Extracellular Protein Quality Control in Tau Pathology.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Article
310 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Pathological aggregation of tau is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies. We have previously shown that the deficiency of the microglial fractalkine receptor (CX3CR1) led to the acceleration of tau pathology and memory impairment in an hTau mouse model of tauopathy. Here, we show that microglia drive tau pathology in a cell-autonomous manner. First, tau hyperphosphorylation and aggregation occur as early as 2 months of age in hTauCx3cr1(-/-) mice. Second, CD45(+) microglial activation correlates with the spatial memory deficit and spread of tau pathology in the anatomically connected regions of the hippocampus. Third, adoptive transfer of purified microglia derived from hTauCx3cr1(-/-) mice induces tau hyperphosphorylation within the brains of non-transgenic recipient mice. Finally, inclusion of interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (Kineret®) in the adoptive transfer inoculum significantly reduces microglia-induced tau pathology. Together, our results suggest that reactive microglia are sufficient to drive tau pathology and correlate with the spread of pathological tau in the brain.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.