January 14, 2019.
French researchers have just discovered how, by attaching themselves to certain proteins in the membrane of a cell, pathogenic aggregates were able to ensure the spread of Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers explain how the Tau protein works
In the research against neurodegenerative diseases, the question today is to know which generation will know the first curative treatments. Research is progressing rapidly and it is a team of French researchers who have contributed to this vast edifice.. At Fontenay-aux-Roses, scientists from the laboratory of neurodegenerative diseases: mechanisms, therapy, imaging of the CNRS, in collaboration with the École normale supérieure, the Sorbonne and Inserm, have just discovered through which door the protein responsible for the The course of Alzheimer’s disease entered a cell.
To achieve this discovery, these researchers studied, in vitro, on mouse neurons, the behavior of aggregates of the Tau protein, whose spread and fixation were already known to be key stages in the development of the disease. They found that these aggregates targeted the sodium / potassium pump and glutamate receptors, two proteins essential for the survival of neurons.
New curative treatments could soon be imagined
During their experiment, the researchers also found that by attaching to the cell, these aggregates modified the structure of its membrane, thus preventing it from communicating with other neurons.
For the authors of this study, this work helps to explain one aspect of the disease: the degradation of communication between neurons. But not only, explain the researchers: “ They also pave the way for the design of new therapeutic strategies based on the protection of synaptic integrity, the restoration of the activity of membrane receptors for the Tau protein, and the use of decoys to prevent the deleterious interaction between aggregates. Tau protein pathogens and their membrane targets “.
Gaelle Latour
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