faulty protein cleanup gene tagged posts

Faulty protein cleanup gene tied to severe early-onset neurological disorders

Evidence builds for the role malfunctioning protein removal systems play in neurodegenerative diseases
Left: Nerve fibers from healthy brain tissue are shown in magenta with support cells called glia in green. Right: Neurons deprived of PI31 are swollen and damaged. Glia are activated and enlarged as they try to remove faulty connections between cells. Credit: Steller lab

Though protein clumps associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s were discovered more than a century ago, researchers remain largely unable to prevent them from forming or eliminate them from the brain. And though a variety of therapies have taken aim at tau tangles, beta-amyloid plaques and Lewy bodies, among other notorious aggregates, none have been very effective at stopping disease progression.

Rockefeller’s Hermann Steller and his team in the Strang Laboratory of Apoptosis and Cancer Biology have long been fo...

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