Some viral diseases could possibly contribute to neurodegeneration. DZNE researchers report this in the journal Nature Communications. Their assessment is based on laboratory experiments in which they were able to show that certain viral molecules facilitate intercellular spreading of protein aggregates that are hallmarks of brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. These findings may provide clues how acute or chronic viral infections could contribute to neurodegeneration.
Aggregates of misfolded proteins, which occur in so-called prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, have the ability to pass from one cell to another, where…
