TLR4 and neurodegenerative disease: To mimic conditions that activate microglia in the context of neurodegenerative diseases, we exposed Q140/140 and Q7/7 microglia to ligands of TLR4 and TLR2, two pattern recognition receptors that can promote microglial-mediated neuronal injury and neurodegeneration [80, 81] upon stimulation by pathogenic misfolded proteins and/or endogenous danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) released by injured and dying cells [66, 67, 82, 83].