The effect of CX3CL1/CX3CR1 signal axis on microglia in central nervous system diseases

CX3C chemokine ligand 1 (CX3CL1), a unique member of the CX3C family, is most widely expressed in endothelial cells and neurons. Its specific receptor is CX3CR1, which is mainly expressed in central nervous system (CNS) microglia. CX3CL1 has effects on the brain and neurological system. CX3CL1 and its specific receptor CX3CR1 can inhibit calcium influx in neurons, promote the activation of protein kinases and the activation of nuclear transcription factor kB, etc., thereby reducing the release of inflammatory factors and achieving small stable glue in the state of plasmocytes and inhibiting the inflammatory response in CNS. This phenomenon limits neuronal death to a certain extent and has a particular neu-roprotective effect. Currently, the CX3CL1/CX3CR1 signal axis impact is of particular interest in a variety of CNS disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, cerebral small vessel disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and other diseases. A wealth of studies has reported CX3CL1/CX3CR1 signal axis as a functional regulator of microglia, thereby affecting the occurrence and development of CNS diseases. The current article briefly enlightens the role of the CX3CL1/CX3CR1 signal axis and microglia and its effect on CNS diseases.(c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Tsinghua University Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).