Ermioni S Arvanitaki, Evi Goulielmaki, Katerina Gkirtzimanaki, George Niotis, Edisona Tsakani, Electra Nenedaki, Iliana Rouska, Mary Kefalogianni, Dionysios Xydias, Ilias Kalafatakis, Sotiris Psilodimitrakopoulos, Domna Karagogeos, Björn Schumacher, Emmanuel Stratakis, George A Garinis
DNA damage and neurodegenerative disorders are intimately linked but the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, we show that persistent DNA lesions in tissue-resident macrophages carrying an XPF-ERCC1 DNA repair defect trigger neuroinflammation and neuronal cell death in mice. We find that microglia accumulate dsDNAs and chromatin fragments in the cytosol, which are sensed thereby stimulating a viral-like immune response in Er1Cx/- and naturally aged murine brain. Cytosolic DNAs are packaged into extracellular vesicles (EVs) that are released from microglia and discharge their dsDNA cargo into IFN-responsive neurons triggering cell death...
April 23, 2024: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America