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Background: Microglial activation is a hallmark of neuroinflammation, seen in most acute and chronic neuropsychiatric conditions. With growing knowledge about microglia functions in surveying the brain for alterations, microglial activation is increasingly discussed in the context of disease progression and pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Underlying molecular mechanisms, however, remain largely unclear. While proper microglial function is essentially required for its scavenging duties, local activation of the brain’s innate immune cells also brings about many less advantageous changes, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, secretion of proinflammatory cytokines or degradation of neuroprotective retinoids, and may thus unnecessarily put surrounding healthy neurons in danger. In view of this dilemma, it is little surprising that both, AD vaccination trials, and also immunosuppressive …