Credit: Brian McCabe (EPFL)
Credit: Brian McCabe (EPFL) - A new study by researchers reveals how a malfunctioning protein complex can lead to the buildup of toxic forms of Tau, a protein involved in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease are associated with atypical proteins that form tangles in the brain, killing neurons. Neurobiologists at EPFL have now identified some key mechanisms underlying the formation of these tangles. The researchers were also able to look at cell vulnerability early on in neurodegeneration, when neurons get disconnected from each other. Their work may help to develop new therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. "If we can stop or slow down the earliest disconnection of neurons, we may slow down the subsequent steps that happen as neurons start to degenerate," says study senior author Brian McCabe, director of the Laboratory of Neural Genetics and Disease and a Professor at the EPFL School of Life Sciences. McCabe's team engineered Drosophila (fruit fly) adults to express human Tau, a protein that is involved in Alzheimer's disease and other disorders that lead to dementia.
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