Neurodegeneration 'clumping proteins' common in aging process
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 16:42
in Biology & Nature
Many proteins that form insoluble clumps in the brains of people with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases are also found in healthy individuals and clump together as a normal part of aging. According to a surprising new finding by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, the discovery in the C. elegans roundworm refutes a widespread belief that these clumps are unique to degenerative disease and created by proteins specific to those diseases. The team also found that gene manipulations that extend the lifespan of C. elegans prevent the formation of these insoluble aggregates. These findings will appear next week in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology.