Ancient Viruses in Our DNA May Fuel Dementia | Design, Science and Technology | Scoop.it
From neurosciencenews.com - September 22, 2023 11:24 PM

Researchers discovered a potential link between "endogenous retroviruses" present in the human genome and the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

 

Summary: Researchers discovered a potential link between “endogenous retroviruses” present in the human genome and the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Their study found that these ancient viral remnants might influence the spread of protein aggregates commonly associated with certain dementias. While these retroviruses don’t trigger neurodegeneration, they may exacerbate the disease process. This discovery offers new potential therapeutic avenues, such as suppressing gene expression or neutralizing viral proteins.

 


Research cited published in Nature (Aug. 18, 2023):

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40632-z 

Read the full article at: neurosciencenews.com


Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald