Aging is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and cell-type vulnerability underlies its characteristic clinical manifestations. We have performed longitudinal, single-cell RNA-sequencing in with pan-neuronal expression of human tau, which forms AD neurofibrillary tangle pathology. Whereas tau- and aging-induced gene expression strongly overlap (93%), they differ in the affected cell types.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccumulation of α-Synuclein (α-Syn) causes Parkinson's disease (PD) as well as other synucleopathies. α-Syn is the major component of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, the proteinaceous aggregates that are a hallmark of sporadic PD. In familial forms of PD, mutations or copy number variations in (the α-Syn gene) result in a net increase of its protein levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVarious neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the accumulation of amyloidogenic proteins such as tau, α-synuclein, and amyloid-β. Prior to the formation of these stable aggregates, intermediate species of the respective proteins-oligomers-appear. Recently acquired data have shown that oligomers may be the most toxic and pathologically significant to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
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