Researchers are gaining new insights into neurological diseases by studying circular RNAs (circRNAs) in brain cells.
Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc.Sep 19 2023 A new study by investigators from the Brigham and Women's Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, identified over 11,000 distinct RNA circles that characterized brain cells implicated in Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Their results are published in Nature Communications.
Scherzer and colleagues laser-captured neurons from 190 frozen postmortem human brain samples, including some non-neuronal cells for comparison. Then, they used ultra-deep, total RNA sequencing to study the exact sequences of genetic code found in the circular RNAs within these two cell types. Degeneration of these dopamine and pyramidal neurons plays a key role in the development of neurological disorders. When researchers investigated this connection further, they found that a surprising number of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's genes produced circular RNA. For example, expression of one circRNA produced from the Parkinson's gene DNAJC6 was reduced in vulnerable dopamine neurons even prior to symptom onset.
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