Immune cell receptors CXCR3 and CXCR5 influence nerve cell self-cleaning process

Two receptor-ligand pairs, CXCR3-CXCL10 and CXCR5-CXCL13, stimulated autophagy in neuronal models.

• Autophagy is essential for clearing toxic protein aggregates linked to neurodegenerative diseases.
• Microglial secreted factors were previously found to impair neuronal autophagy.
• In screening microglial secretions, two receptor-ligand pairs were identified that promote autophagy.
• CXCL10 and CXCL13 activate a signaling pathway that enhances autophagy by affecting protein interactions.
• The mechanism involves the activation of JNK, which modifies BCL-XL, allowing BECN1 to initiate autophagy.

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