A Secret Passage for Mutant Protein to Invade the Brain

In many neurodegenerative disorders, abnormal proteins progressively aggregate and propagate in the brain. But what comes first, aggregation or propagation? Researchers from Japan share some new insights about the mechanism involved in Parkinson’s disease. In a study published recently in Cell Reports, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) have shown that a mutated version of a protein called α-synuclein propagates to various cerebral regions through the lymphatic system and then aggregates. The open-access article is titled “Mutant α-Synuclein Propagates Via the Lymphatic System of the Brain in the Monomeric State.”