黑料吃瓜群网

Autoimmunity, in which the immune system attacks the body鈥檚 own tissues, has been found to play a role in Parkinson鈥檚 disease.

Researchers have found the聽first direct evidence that autoimmunity impacts聽the neurodegenerative movement disorder, raising聽the possibility that the death of neurons in Parkinson鈥檚 could be prevented by therapies that dampen the immune response.

The study, led by scientists at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, was published in the Advance Online edition of Nature.

Professor Elizabeth Phillips and Professor Simon Mallal, from the Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Murdoch University, were involved in the provision, generation and interpretation of the immunogenomic data from patients鈥� samples in this study.

鈥淭his study provides unifying underlying mechanisms that support Parkinson鈥檚 disease as an autoimmune disease in humans that results from destruction of nerve cells by the patient鈥檚 own immune system,鈥� Professor Phillips said.

鈥淚t is exciting that this will likely lead to important breakthroughs in novel targeted therapies for Parkinson鈥檚 disease in the future.

鈥淭he research in particular suggests that immune cells (T cells) from patients with Parkinson鈥檚 disease attack certain protein fragments that abnormally accumulate and are recognised as foreign (alpha-synuclein). This specific immune response in these patients was associated with their genetic immune make-up (HLA genes).鈥�

In the study, the researchers exposed blood samples from 67 Parkinson鈥檚 disease patients and 36 age-matched healthy controls to fragments of alpha-synuclein and other proteins found in neurons.

They analysed the samples to determine which, if any, of the protein fragments triggered an immune response.

In particular, the immune response was associated with a common form of a gene found in the immune system, which may explain why many people with Parkinson鈥檚 disease carry this gene variant.

Researchers are now analysing these responses in additional patients, aiming to develop an immunotherapy which could help to ameliorate or prevent worsening symptoms in Parkinson鈥檚 disease patients.

The study, 鈥楾 cells of Parkinson鈥檚 disease patients recognize alpha-synuclein peptides鈥�, can be read .

Image credit: 漏stock.adobe.com/au/viperagp

Originally published