Tau transmission model opens doors for new Alzheimer's, Parkinson's therapies

This Alzheimer's research, along with additional Parkinson's research from Penn and beyond, further demonstrates the cell-to-cell transmission of neurodegenerative proteins. John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, co-director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR) and professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, will present the research in the Hot Topics plenary session on Tuesday, March 19.

"The transmission model better explains the spread of disease within neurodegenerative disease, and has uncovered new therapeutic opportunities which we are exploring vigorously," said Dr. Trojanowski. "However, it is important to emphasize that the spread of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's pathology does not mean these diseases are infectious, like Mad Cow disease, based on data from another recent study from our group."

For supplemental information on the transmission of tau pathology, the laboratory of senior author Virginia M.-Y. Lee, Ph.D., MBA, director of CNDR and professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, published additional findings in the Journal of Neuroscience.