The role of microglia–lymphocyte interaction in PD neuropathology

Neuroinflammation is a major pathological component of Parkinson’s disease. Chronic microglial response dominates the histopathology of parkinsonian substantia nigra. In addition infiltrated T lymphocytes in the brain parenchyma and abnormally activated T lymphocytes in the blood of patients with Parkinson’s disease have been described. In less than a decade the concept of Parkinson’s disease neuropathology has been profoundly revised. It is now evident that neurotoxic microgliosis is only part of a more complex dysregulation of the immune response, that involves both the central and peripheral immune systems.