Inside STAT: How some cells serve as unlikely heroes to defend the brain from viral invaders

MICROGLIA IN MOUSE BRAINS. (THERESA GAFFNEY AND HYACINTH EMPINADO/STAT)

Microglial cells have long been thought of as immune cells in the brain, and a new study shows just how they work to fend off viruses that try to invade the brain. Researchers infected mice with a common respiratory virus known as vesicular stomatitis to track how the immune system responds, and found that microglial cells used antigens given off by the virus to alert T cells to the presence of the pathogens. When scientists repeated the experiment in mice with reduced microglia in their brains, T cells didn't seem as responsive to the virus, suggesting that there were less microglia-produced antigen to flag the presence of RSV. Read more — and watch a video showing how microglia recruit T cells to fight viruses — from STAT's Theresa Gaffney here.