Neurodegeneration: new clues on inclusions.
The rare neurological disorders frontotemporal dementia and British dementia have been linked to two mutant genes whose products constitute the fibrils that define the two disease pathologies. Two recent studies add to the mounting circumstantial case that protein fibrillization, inside (neurofibrillary tangles) or outside (amyloid plaques) of the neuron, may be pathogenic and suggest that either or both of these mechanisms could initiate Alzheimer's disease.
Lansbury
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PT
Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA. lansbury@cnd.bwh.harvard.edu
Kosik
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KS
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003704:Dementia / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D002479:Inclusion Bodies / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology