New evidence points to a waste-clearing problem in patients’ cells, rather than the accumulation of protein tangles, as the root cause of the neurodegenerative disease.
To chew up waste in far-reaching dendritic spines, lysosomes are trafficked sometimes hundreds of microns away from the cell bodies of neurons in rats.
By audaciously pursuing an abandoned area of research, Ana María Cuervo discovered how cells selectively break down their waste, and revealed the health consequences when that process malfunctions.