As resident neuroimmune cells of the CNS, microglia and astrocytes modulate the inflammatory response and release pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory cytokines in response to abnormal accumulation of pathogenic proteins (such as tau-containing neurofibrillary tangles in AD and α-synuclein aggregation in PD) and invasion of pathogens [77]. This evidence concerns the gene MAPT and Alzheimer disease.