Somatic mutations reveal the ontogeny of human microglia - PubMed
2 hours ago
- #microglia
- #somatic mutations
- #neuroimmunology
- A new method uses somatic mutations as clonal markers to track bone marrow-derived cells entering the human brain.
- Study of 20 aged individuals found evidence of marrow-derived cell influx into the brain in all cases.
- Single-cell analysis shows these infiltrating cells are nearly identical to microglia and can form a large fraction of the microglial pool.
- Clonal hematopoiesis is associated with a protective effect against Alzheimer's disease in large sequencing cohorts.
- The influx of myeloid cells into the healthy human brain reinforces microglial populations and becomes common with aging.