Parkinson's disease: New insights into a traveling protein

(DZNE - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases) In Parkinson's disease, the protein 'alpha-synuclein' aggregates within neurons of patients and appears to propagate across interconnected areas of the brain. How this happens remains largely unknown. It has been proposed that alpha-synuclein may behave like a 'prion.' However, recent findings by DZNE scientists reveal that pathology caused by alpha-synuclein does not necessarily involve prion-like seeding. Instead, it could be triggered by e...