Microglia represent mononuclear phagocytes in the brain and perform immune surveillance,
recognizing a number of signaling molecules released from surrounding cells in both
healthy and pathological situations. The microglia interact with several damage-associated
molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs) and recent data indicate that mitochondrial
transcription factor A (Tfam) could act as a specific DAMP in peripheral tissues. This study
tested the hypothesis that extracellular Tfam induces pro-inflammatory and cytotoxic …