Blog – Page 2

Research Letter: CAR T cells targeting the glycoprotein GD2 show potent antitumor efficacy in high-risk ependymoma models.

Antonio Carlos Tallon-Cobos & team establish a new ependymoma model for preclinical research and demonstrate a promising immunotherapeutic approach for this largely aggressive pediatric brain cancer.

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¹Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology, Utrecht, Netherlands.

²Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany.

³Division of Pediatric Neurooncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and German Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany.

Parkinson’s disease is characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in a specific brain region known as the substantia nigra. This neuronal degeneration is closely linked to inflammatory processes mediated by microglia, the immune cells of the central nervous system. However, the precise mechanisms that trigger this destructive process are still not fully understood.

Now, in an article published in npj Parkinson’s Disease, researchers from the Institut de Neurociències of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) and the UAB Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology report that brain tissue from Parkinson’s disease patients contains a higher proportion of reactive microglia, meaning cells that are primed to respond. But most importantly, these reactive microglial cells also show an increased density of receptors known as Fc gamma on their membranes.

The researchers suggested that higher concentrations of charged ions weaken the interaction between tau proteins and heparin, making cluster formation more difficult. This occurs because charged molecules such as tau and heparin become less able to interact due to electrostatic “screening,” which effectively masks their charges from one another.

A New Direction for Treating Neurodegenerative Disease

These results point toward a different strategy for developing therapies. Rather than attempting to break apart fully formed tau fibrils, future treatments could focus on blocking the reversible precursor stage before irreversible damage takes place. This approach could have implications beyond Alzheimer’s disease, potentially influencing research into other neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease.