ArticleBrain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland)2020
Characterization of the 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) expression in post-mortem normal and Alzheimer's disease brains.
Article in Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 120 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between FDG- and TSPO-PET signals across human and animal studies investigating neurodegenerative conditions: a systematic review.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- EANM perspective on clinical PET and SPECT imaging in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: a systematic review of longitudinal studies.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic review of human post-mortem immunohistochemical studies and bioinformatics analyses unveil the complexity of astrocyte reaction in Alzheimer's disease.Neuropathology and applied neurobiology · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of human transcriptomics reveals neuroinflammation, deficient energy metabolism, and proteostasis failure across neurodegeneration.Neurobiology of disease · 2021Pooled it
- Inhibition of p38α MAPK increases short-term astrocyte reactivity: the exploratory VIP trial in early Alzheimer's disease.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Trial
- Whole-body TSPO-PET reveals stage-dependent disruption of systemic immune organ interactions in glioblastoma.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026Article
- An Integrated Analysis of Manganese Metabolism-Related Genes and Their Association With Biomarkers, Immune Infiltration, and Clinical Subtypes in Alzheimer's Disease.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2026Article
- [Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2026Article
- Depletion of microglial compensation in glial network: Disease-associated response dynamics in the revised amyloid hypothesis.Neuroprotection (Chichester, England) · 2026Review
- Illuminating proinflammatory myeloid cells with PET tracers targeting GPR84.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- [BMC neurology · 2026Article
- Comparing and combining TSPO-PET tracers in tauopathies.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026Article
- Astrocyte Biology in CNS Inflammatory Diseases: A Clinical-Translational Perspective.Neurology(R) neuroimmunology & neuroinflammation · 2026Review
- Microglia modulate Aβ-dependent astrocyte reactivity in Alzheimer's disease.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Evidence for brain glial activity in chronic migraine patients: a [European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Article
- Association of white matter injury and neuroinflammation in the post-acute phase after ischemic stroke using [EJNMMI research · 2025Article
- Post-mortem validation of in vivo TSPO PET as a microglial biomarker.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Extra-axial inflammatory signal and its relationship to peripheral and central immunity in depression.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Article
- PET imaging of neuroinflammation: any credible alternatives to TSPO yet?Molecular psychiatry · 2025Review
- Glioinflammation: disease-associated microglia and astrocytes in psychiatric disorders, neurodegeneration, and senescence.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2025Review
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) is a widely used target for microglial PET imaging radioligands, but its expression in post-mortem normal and diseased human brain is not well described. We aimed at characterizing the TSPO expression in human control (CTRL) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains. Specifically, we sought to: (1) define the cell type(s) expressing TSPO; (2) compare tspo mRNA and TSPO levels between AD and CTRL brains; (3) correlate TSPO levels with quantitative neuropathological measures of reactive glia and AD neuropathological changes; and (4) investigate the effects of the TSPO rs6971 SNP on tspo mRNA and TSPO levels, glial responses and AD neuropathological changes. We performed quantitative immunohistochemistry and Western blot in post-mortem brain samples from CTRL and AD subjects, as well as analysis of publicly available mouse and human brain RNA-Seq datasets. We found that: (1) TSPO is expressed not just in microglia, but also in astrocytes, endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells; (2) there is substantial overlap of tspo mRNA and TSPO levels between AD and CTRL subjects and in TSPO levels between temporal neocortex and white matter in both groups; (3) TSPO cortical burden does not correlate with the burden of activated microglia or reactive astrocytes, Aβ plaques or neurofibrillary tangles, or the cortical thickness; (4) the TSPO rs6971 SNP does not significantly impact tspo mRNA or TSPO levels, the magnitude of glial responses, the cortical thickness, or the burden of AD neuropathological changes. These results could inform ongoing efforts toward the development of reactive glia-specific PET radioligands.
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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.