Bidirectional crosstalk between the immune and nervous systems, via ‘neuroimmune circuits’, regulates homeostatic and inflammatory responses essential for health. Microglia, long-lived brain macrophages, act as key hubs integrating immune signals into coordinated brain responses by shifting into distinct functional states in response to local and systemic cues. In this review, we focus on how environmental signals shape these microglial states, how microglia influence other brain cells through both direct and indirect mechanisms, and emerging evidence of how microglia are impacted by, and respond to, peripheral changes. We highlight microglia as central players in systemic neuroimmune communication, influencing both brain and peripheral health, while outlining recent tools and key knowledge gaps to guide future research into mechanisms of neuroimmune circuit communication.

INTRODUCTION: Phagocytosis is a pivotal component of the human innate immune defense against malaria. This essential defense mechanism is often modulated by various host-derived soluble factors. We investigated the phagocytosis of Plasmodium falciparum- and P. knowlesi-infected erythrocytes (IRBC) by human monocytic THP-1 cells in the presence of periostin (OSF-2), a human secretory protein involved in inflammation and tissue repair. This focus was prompted by the fact that OSF-2 is a potent...

Cornell et al. show that target cells with low cortical tension induce macrophages to preferentially trogocytose, or engulf in small fragments, whereas target cells with high cortical tension tend tow...

INTRODUCTION: The protozoan Leishmania infantum causes visceral leishmaniasis, a disease associated with suppressed systemic innate and adaptive immune responses. Mechanisms underlying the generalized immune suppression are incompletely understood. Exosomes are a subset of microvesicles released from eukaryotic cells, which contain proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, including microRNAs (miRNAs). These small regulatory RNAs can simultaneously modify the expression of many genes and pathways. We...

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Background Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a novel emerging viral infectious disease. We explored the percentage, origins and functional roles of low density neutrophils (LDNs), ...