Parkinson's: new discoveries about nanotubes, transporters of toxic proteins

We now know that neurodegenerative diseases are caused by the agglutination of "misfolded" proteins in the brain. These proteins, which are toxic for neurons, spread from cell to cell through tiny tunnels, known as nanotubes. After imaging their structure in detail, scientists in the Institut Pasteur's Membrane Traffic and Pathogenesis Unit, directed by Chiara Zurzolo, are now investigating the mechanisms by which these nanotubes are formed and the propagation of abnormal alpha-synuclein proteins associated with Parkinson's disease. The results of their research have been published in the journals European Molecular Biology Organization and Neurobiology of Disease.

Find out more