A new study by Columbia University has found that brain diseases have one possible common thread, which is associated with a unique protein tangle (fibril), according to Medical Xpress.
The study’s principal investigator Dr. Anthony Fitzpatrick said, “Each of these diseases has a unique protein tangle, or fibril, associated with it. These proteins associated with diseases have their own shapes and behaviors.”
The study, published Friday in the journal Cell, revealed that the common thread between brain diseases is linked to a new fibril – the one that is formed by a protein normally busy cleaning cells.
Andrew Chang, the study’s co-first author, said, “We have a surprising and provocative result that we hope could have some bearing on managing neurodegenerative diseases.”
Researchers have long pursued the tangle-forming proteins as targets for new drugs but this idea has largely delivered disappointing results.
Some of the common and rare fibril-associated diseases affect millions of people around the world.
Xinyu Xiang, a former member of the Dr. Fitzpatrick lab, said, “We have found that a protein called TMEM106B can form fibrils, and this behavior was not known before. This protein is a core component of lysosomes and endosomes, which are organelles that clean up the junk that builds up in our cells as we get older.”
TMEM106B molecules normally span the membranes of waste-management organelles. Dr. Fitzpatrick and his team discovered that TMEM106B molecules can split into two fragments. Fragments inside the organelles can then self-assemble into what the researchers suspect could be cell-hobbling fibrils, according to Medical Xpress.
The study’s co-first author Marija Simjanoska said, “It’s so motivating to remember that the only way we can do this research is because of people who generously donated their brains.”
The researchers speculate that the formation of TMEM106B fibrils disrupts lysosome (a membrane-bound cell organelle) function, which, in turn, promotes the formation of fibrils made of the other known fibril-forming proteins.
They explained that these malfunctions could kill brain cells, causing dementia, movement problems, speech impairment, and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases with telltale protein tangles.
Dr. Fitzpatrick said, “We now have a promising new lead. It could point towards a common thread linking a range of neurodegenerative diseases and could open the way to new interventions.” The article was published in Medical Xpress.
