Clumps of RNA-binding proteins have been discovered in the nucleus of nerve cells derived from people with Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study. Generated by a “self-propagating” cycle, these clumps were different and separate from those made from the protein alpha-synuclein, a well-known feature of Parkinson’s. A second…

Two proteins, Aplp1 and Lag3, pair to allow toxic aggregates of alpha-synuclein — a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease — into nerve cells and help it spread across the brain, according to a study in mice. “Now that we know how Aplp1 and Lag3 interact, we have a new way…

BrainTale’s noninvasive imaging analysis software, BrainTale-care, may be able to distinguish Parkinson’s disease from atypical parkinsonism. That’s according to data from an advanced MRI technique, called diffusion tensor imaging, that measures the diffusion of water molecules in the brain’s white matter. White matter contains nerve fibers…

An imaging agent for positron emission tomography (PET) scans allowed researchers to visualize, for the first time, abnormal alpha-synuclein protein clumps in the brains of living patients with Parkinson’s disease, a study showed. By detecting a hallmark feature of Parkinson’s found in relatively lower abundance in the brain compared…

Researchers at University College London (UCL) have developed a test that accurately identified Parkinson’s disease up to seven years before its symptoms manifested by measuring levels of eight biomarkers in the blood, a study reports. “We set out to use state-of-the-art technology to find new and better biomarkers for…

A region in the alpha-synuclein protein has been identified as a possible target for inhibiting the conversion of oligomers — early aggregates, or clumps, of the protein — into toxic fibrils, a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease, according to a recent study. Mutations in this region are also associated with…

The protein CD163, which is involved in the immune response, may play a protective role in Parkinson’s, particularly in females, by regulating how immune cells react to the toxic clumps of alpha-synuclein protein that lead to the disease’s symptoms, a study in mice finds. The study, led by Marina…

There were more cases of Parkinson’s disease and cancer than expected among attorneys who worked near a now-closed dry cleaner in Rochester, New York that leaked trichloroethylene (TCE) and other dry cleaning solvents into the soil, a study finds. While they failed to reach statistical significance, the findings add…

Toxic substances that enter via the nose or gut give rise to toxic protein clumps that eventually cause Parkinson’s disease, researchers propose. “In both the brain-first and body-first scenarios the [disease mechanism] arises in structures in the body closely connected to the outside world,” Ray Dorsey, MD, a professor…

A five-year project funded by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant totaling nearly $1.9 million will study amyloid fibrils, protein clumps that are a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. This work may shed new light on the disease-causing mechanisms related to these fibrils —…