This has been a difficult question to answer because microglia are closely related to other immune cells elsewhere in the body. One area of focus is microglia and their role in defending the brain. Many researchers are now exploring the implications of that major discovery. UVA research, however, showed that was not the case, to the shock of the scientific community. For decades, textbooks taught that the brain was disconnected from the immune system.

UVA’s Department of Neuroscience and BIG center have in recent years completely rewritten our understanding of the brain’s relationship with the body’s immune system. “Otherwise the IL-1a remains stuck inside the microglia and wouldn’t alert the immune system that something is wrong.” “Microglia must die to save the brain from this infection,” said researcher Tajie Harris, PhD, of UVA’s Department of Neuroscience and the interim director of the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG). The new finding reveals how they recruit help when needed, and that discovery could apply to any brain condition with an immunological component – including brain injury, neurodegenerative disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis and more. Understanding the role of microglia is essential because they are normally the only immune cells inside the brain. This process works so well that very few people develop symptomatic toxoplasmosis, the disease the parasite causes. These microglia release a unique immune molecule, IL-1a, that recruits immune cells from the blood to control the parasite in the brain, the scientists discovered. The UVA researchers found that the parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, is kept in check by brain defenders called microglia. A new discovery from the University of Virginia School of Medicine explains why, and that finding could have important implications for brain infections, neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders. More than two billion people are infected with a brain parasite spread by cats and contaminated meat, but most will never show symptoms.

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