In our newly published narrative review in the special issue “Alzheimer’s disease- 115 Years After Its Discovery” in the journal Biomedicines we discuss the ins and outs of cholesterol handling in microglia, the immune cells of the brain, and discuss implications for Alzheimer’s disease.
In this review article we explore what is known about the effects of high and low cholesterol concentrations on microglia phenotype and function, and areas of research that still need to be explored to better understand this aspect of biology. Given the importance of microglia in driving the neuroinflammation that is associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, improving microglia function and decreasing microglia-associated inflammation are priority targets for finding new, effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Understanding the role of cholesterol in this process may be a key for finding therapeutic solutions.