PhD Scientific Days 2025

Neurosciences

Loss of Microglial P2Y12 Receptor Scales with Severity of Neurological Diseases

Előadó neve

Dr. Balázs Pósfai, PhD

Előadó munkahelye

Institute of Experimental Medicine

Előadó telefonszáma

+36303313010

Előadó e-mail címe

posfai.balazs@koki.hu

Az előadás címe

Loss of Microglial P2Y12 Receptor Scales with Severity of Neurological Diseases

Szerző(k) neve és munkahelye

Balázs Pósfai¹, Sára Vida¹, Krisztina Tóth¹, Cecília Szekeres-Paraczky¹, Zsófia Maglóczky¹, Ana Rita Brás¹, Péter Gombás², Lóránd Erőss³, Ádám Dénes¹

1: Institute of Experimental Medicine
2: Department of Pathology, St. Borbála Hospital, Tatabánya
3: Institute of Neurosurgery and Neurointervention, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University

Bemutatás módja

Szóbeli

Szekció

Neurosciences

Language of the presentation

English

Preferred session

Neurosciences

Összefoglaló szövege

Introduction: Understanding the mechanisms of neurological diseases is one of the most urgent challenges of medicine. In recent years, our workgroup has contributed to the understanding of the homeostatic and neuroprotective roles of microglia, the brain’s main immune cell under both physiological and pathological conditions. The microglia-specific purinergic P2Y12 receptor is essential in microglial homeostatic functions, and a key element of intercellular communication with neurons and vascular elements. Unveiling alterations in P2Y12 receptor expression levels in global (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease) and focal (e.g. epilepsy) neuropathologies leads to a better understanding of these disorders.
Aims: To assess microglial P2Y12 receptor expression levels in different human neurological pathologies.
Methods: In this study we utilized human brain samples from different sources: for the epilepsy investigations, control human tissues were obtained from subjects who died from causes not directly involving any brain disease, autopsies took place in Saint Borbála Hospital, Tatabánya. Patients with drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy underwent surgery in the National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences in Budapest, within the framework of the Hungarian Epilepsy Surgery Program. For the Alzheimer’s disease analysis, control and pathological samples were obtained from the Netherlands Brain Bank. We performed immunofluorescent labelling and single cell RNA sequencing on a subset of the samples.
Results and conclusions: Our results show that P2Y12 receptor expression scales with the severity of disease in human epilepsy: patients with hippocampal sclerosis show lower levels of P2Y12 receptor expression in their temporal cortex, and microglia-neuron contacts are significantly altered mimicking changes seen in P2Y12 receptor-deficient mice. In the Alzheimer’s patients, single cell RNA sequencing revealed a drastic loss of microglial P2Y12 receptor, accompanied by a shift in the ratio of microglial subtypes.
Funding: Supported by the EKÖP-2024-67 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund and SORLA-FIX JPND.

University

Semmelweis University

Supervisor

Ádám Dénes

Publication of my abstract

I do not give consent to the publication of my abstract on the website of the congress.

phd.section.field

after finishing doctoral studies with absolutorium (PhD)

Kind

Szabad

Status

elfogadva

Accepted presentation method

szóbeli

Előadás fájl jóváhagyás

nem hagyta jóvá

Előadó

8930

Start

09:00

End

09:15