Functioning brain cells need a functioning system for picking up the trash and sorting the recycling. But when lysosomes, the cellular sanitation machines responsible for those tasks, break down or get overwhelmed, it can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological disorders. “Lysosomal function is essential for brain health, and mutations in lysosomal genes are risk factors for neurodegenerative diseases,” said Monther Abu-Remaileh, PhD, a Wu Tsai Neuro affiliate and an assistant professor of chemical engineering in the Stanford School of Engineering and an assistant professor of genetics in the Stanford School of Medicine. Scientists aren’t sure exactly how lysosomes do their work, or what goes wrong with them that leads to neurodegeneration, or even in which cell types neurodegenerative disease begins. And there might even be other lysosomal disorders yet to be discovered. Researchers have now laid out the first-ever atlas of lysosomal proteins in the brain, indicating which proteins are most closely associated with lysosomes across different brain cell types. The data, the researchers say, could help scientists better understand lysosomal function and what happens when they break down. “Now we know which lysosomal proteins are enriched in which brain cell types,” commented Ali Ghoochani, PhD, a research scientist in Abu-Remaileh’s lab. “This allows us to better understand the functions of these proteins and how their dysfunction contributes to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological disorders.” The team was also able to use the atlas to tie a rare neurological disorder, SLC45A1-associated disease, to lysosomal…
