2026-01-07 カロリンスカ研究所(KI)
<関連情報>
- https://news.ki.se/as-we-age-immune-cells-protect-the-spinal-cord
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02161-4
TGFβシグナル伝達は、時空間的に制限されたミエリン変性に対するミクログリアの回復力を媒介する TGFβ signaling mediates microglial resilience to spatiotemporally restricted myelin degeneration
Keying Zhu,Yun Liu,Jin-Hong Min,Vijay Joshua,Jianing Lin,Yue Li,Judith C. Kreutzmann,Yuxi Guo,Wenlong Xia,Elyas Mohammadi,Melanie Pieber,Valerie Suerth,Yiming Xia,Zaneta Andrusivova,Jean-Philippe Hugnot,Shigeaki Kanatani,Per Uhlén,Joakim Lundeberg,Xiaofei Li,Stephen P. J. Fancy,Heela Sarlus,Robert A. Harris & Harald Lund
Nature Neuroscience Published:02 January 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02161-4
Abstract
Microglia survey and regulate central nervous system myelination during embryonic development and adult homeostasis. However, whether microglia–myelin interactions are spatiotemporally regulated remains unexplored. Here, by examining spinal cord white matter tracts in mice, we determined that myelin degeneration was particularly prominent in the dorsal column (DC) during normal aging. This was accompanied by molecular and functional changes in DC microglia as well as an upregulation of transforming growth factor beta (TGF)β signaling. Disrupting TGFβ signaling in microglia led to unrestrained microglial responses and myelin loss in the DC, accompanied by neurological deficits exacerbated with aging. Single-nucleus RNA-sequencing analyses revealed the emergence of a TGFβ signaling-sensitive microglial subset and a disease-associated oligodendrocyte subset, both of which were spatially restricted to the DC. We further discovered that microglia rely on a TGFβ autocrine mechanism to prevent damage of myelin in the DC. These findings demonstrate that TGFβ signaling is crucial for maintaining microglial resilience to myelin degeneration in the DC during aging. This highlights a previously unresolved checkpoint mechanism of TGFβ signaling with regional specificity and spatially restricted microglia–oligodendrocyte interactions.
