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Intergenerational inheritance of immune traits linked to epigenetic modifications has been demonstrated in plants and invertebrates. Here we provide evidence for transmission of trained immunity across generations to murine progeny that survived a sublethal systemic infection with Candida albicans or a zymosan challenge. The progeny of trained mice exhibited cellular, developmental, transcriptional and epigenetic changes associated with the bone marrow-resident myeloid effector and progenitor cell compartment. Moreover, the progeny of trained mice showed enhanced responsiveness to endotoxin challenge, alongside improved protection against systemic heterologous Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes infections. Sperm DNA of parental male mice intravenously infected with the fungus C. albicans showed DNA methylation differences linked to immune gene loci. These results provide evidence for inheritance of trained immunity in mammals, enhancing protection against infections. Transgenerational transmission of acquired immunological traits has been demonstrated in invertebrates and plants but not mammals. Katzmarski et al. demonstrate that trained immunity that protects against heterologous infections can be transmitted to F2 offspring.

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Aggregation of amyloid‐β (Aβ) that leads to the formation of plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD) occurs through the stepwise formation of oligomers and fibrils. An earlier onset of aggregation is obtained upon intracerebral injection of Aβ‐containing brain homogenate into human APP transgenic mice that follows a prion‐like seeding mechanism. Immunoprecipitation of these brain extracts with anti‐Aβ oligomer antibodies or passive immunization of the recipient animals abrogated the observed seeding activity, although induced Aβ deposition was still evident. Here, we establish that, together with Aβ monomers, Aβ oligomers trigger the initial phase of Aβ seeding and that the depletion of oligomeric Aβ delays the aggregation process, leading to a transient reduction of seed‐induced Aβ deposits. This work extends the current knowledge about the role of Aβ oligomers beyond its cytotoxic nature by pointing to a role in the initiation of Aβ aggregation in vivo. We conclude that Aβ oligomers are important for the early initiation phase of the seeding process.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by severe neuronal loss as well as the accumulation of amyloid‐β (Aβ), which ultimately leads to plaque formation. Although there is now a general agreement that the aggregation of Aβ can be initiated by prion‐like seeding, the impact and functional consequences of induced Aβ deposits (Aβ seeding) on neurons still remain open questions. Here, we find that Aβ seeding, representing early stages of plaque formation, leads to a dramatic decrease in proliferation and neurogenesis in two APP transgenic mouse models. We further demonstrate that neuronal cell death occurs primarily in the vicinity of induced Aβ deposits culminating in electrophysiological abnormalities. Notably, environmental enrichment and voluntary exercise not only revives adult neurogenesis and reverses memory deficits but, most importantly, prevents Aβ seeding by activated, phagocytic microglia cells. Our work expands the current knowledge regarding Aβ seeding and the consequences thereof and attributes microglia an important role in diminishing Aβ seeding by environmental enrichment.

Recent advances in single cell multi-omics methodologies significantly expand our understanding of cellular heterogeneity, particularly in the field of immunology. Today's state-of-the-art flow and mass cytometers can detect up to 50 parameters to comprehensively characterize the identity and function of individual cells within a heterogeneous population. As a consequence, the increasing number of parameters that can be detected simultaneously also introduces substantial complexity for the experimental setup and downstream data processing. However, this challenge in data analysis fostered the development of novel bioinformatic tools to fully exploit the high-dimensional data. These tools will eventually replace cumbersome serial, manual gating in the two-dimensional space driven by a priori knowledge, which still represents the gold standard in flow cytometric analysis, to meet the needs of the today's immunologist. To this end, we provide guidelines for a high-dimensional cytometry workflow including experimental setup, panel design, fluorescent spillover compensation, and data analysis.

Recent advances in single cell multi-omics methodologies significantly expand our understanding of cellular heterogeneity, particularly in the field of immunology. Today's state-of-the-art flow and mass cytometers can detect up to 50 parameters to comprehensively characterize the identity and function of individual cells within a heterogeneous population. As a consequence, the increasing number of parameters that can be detected simultaneously also introduces substantial complexity for the experimental setup and downstream data processing. However, this challenge in data analysis fostered the development of novel bioinformatic tools to fully exploit the high-dimensional data. These tools will eventually replace cumbersome serial, manual gating in the two-dimensional space driven by a priori knowledge, which still represents the gold standard in flow cytometric analysis, to meet the needs of the today's immunologist. To this end, we provide guidelines for a high-dimensional cytometry workflow including experimental setup, panel design, fluorescent spillover compensation, and data analysis.

Coding variants in the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) are associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). We demonstrate that amyloid plaque seeding is increased in the absence of functional Trem2. Increased seeding is accompanied by decreased microglial clustering around newly seeded plaques and reduced plaque-associated apolipoprotein E (ApoE). Reduced ApoE deposition in plaques is also observed in brains of AD patients carrying TREM2 coding variants. Proteomic analyses and microglia depletion experiments revealed microglia as one origin of plaque-associated ApoE. Longitudinal amyloid small animal positron emission tomography demonstrates accelerated amyloidogenesis in Trem2 loss-of-function mutants at early stages, which progressed at a lower rate with aging. These findings suggest that in the absence of functional Trem2, early amyloidogenesis is accelerated due to reduced phagocytic clearance of amyloid seeds despite reduced plaque-associated ApoE.

The role of microglia in amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition is controversial. In the present study, an organotypic hippocampal slice culture (OHSC) system with an in vivo-like microglial-neuronal environment was used to investigate the potential contribution of microglia to Aβ plaque formation. We found that microglia ingested Aβ, thereby preventing plaque formation in OHSCs. Conversely, Aβ deposits formed rapidly in microglia-free wild-type slices. The capacity to prevent Aβ plaque formation was absent in forebrain microglia from young adult but not juvenile 5xFamilial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) mice. Since no loss of Aβ clearance capacity was observed in both wild-type and cerebellar microglia from 5xFAD animals, the high Aβ1-42 burden in the forebrain of 5xFAD animals likely underlies the exhaustion of microglial Aβ clearance capacity. These data may therefore explain why Aβ plaque formation has never been described in wild-type mice, and point to a beneficial role of microglia in AD pathology. We also describe a new method to study Aβ plaque formation in a cell culture setting.

Amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and α-synuclein (α-syn)-rich Lewy bodies are the major neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease, respectively. An overlap of pathologies is found in most individuals with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and in more than 50% of AD cases. Their brains display substantial α-syn accumulation not only in Lewy bodies, but also in dystrophic neurites decorating Aβ plaques. Several studies report binding and coaggregation of Aβ and α-syn, yet the precise role of α-syn in amyloid plaque formation remains elusive. Here we performed intracerebral injections of α-syn-containing preparations into amyloid precursor protein (APP) transgenic mice (expressing APP695(KM670/671NL) and PSEN1(L166P) under the control of the neuron-specific Thy-1 promoter; referred to here as 'APPPS1'). Unexpectedly, α-syn failed to cross-seed Aβ plaques in vivo, but rather it inhibited plaque formation in APPPS1 mice coexpressing SNCA(A30P) (referred to here as 'APPPS1 × [A30P]aSYN' double-transgenic mice). This was accompanied by increased Aβ levels in cerebrospinal fluid despite unchanged overall Aβ levels. Notably, the seeding activity of Aβ-containing brain homogenates was considerably reduced by α-syn, and Aβ deposition was suppressed in grafted tissue from [A30P]aSYN transgenic mice. Thus, we conclude that an interaction between Aβ and α-syn leads to inhibition of Aβ deposition and to reduced plaque formation.