Parkinson's disease (PD) is a multisystem disorder, with 10 million affected worldwide. There is no cure and only symptomatic treatment exists. PD motor symptoms are the result of the death of dopamine producing nerve cells. However, PD also affects peripheral organs, gut and blood, where inflammatory signs present years before the motor symptoms. PD might therefore start outside the brain e.g. in the gut. This project investigates whether extracellular vesicles (exosomes) deliver inflammatory signals and pathogens to the brain using a new technology that allows separation of exosomes based on light scattering and fluorescence. Using mass spectrometry, we will identify misfolded proteins, pathogens and immune signals that are carried in exosomes from blood to brain. This is enabled using new software developed in Coffey lab with the Michael J Fox Foundation. The results promise insight on the trajectory of inflammatory and pathogenic signals from blood to brain in PD.

2024

2028