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Interaction of an α-synuclein epitope with HLA-DRB1∗15:01 triggers enteric features in mice reminiscent of prodromal Parkinson’s disease
by Francesca Garretti, Connor Monahan, Nicholas Sloan, Jamie Bergen, Sanjid Shahriar, Seon Woo Kim, Alessandro Sette, Tyler Cutforth, Ellen Kanter, Dritan Agalliu, David Sulzer in Neuron

Ask any neurologist: Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder. The conspicuous symptoms of Parkinson’s disease — uncontrollable tremors, slowed down motions, and the feeling that one’s feet are stuck to the ground — all stem from the loss of neurons in a region of the brain that helps control movement.

However many researchers believe that the neurodegenerative disorder may get started far away from the brain — in the gut — and years before the first neurological signs appear.

New findings by Columbia researchers David Sulzer, PhD, and Dritan Agalliu, PhD, and two of their graduate students are adding to evidence backing this hypothesis — and showing that what triggers initial gastrointestinal changes in Parkinson’s could be a misdirected immune attack. [read more]

Source: Medium