TB and Parkinson's Disease Linked by Unique Protein, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Study

A protein at the center of Parkinson's disease research now also has been found to play a key role in causing the destruction of bacteria that cause tuberculosis, according to scientists led by UC San Francisco microbiologist and tuberculosis expert Jeffery Cox, PhD. The protein, named Parkin, already is the focus of intense investigation in Parkinson's disease, in which its malfunction is associated with a loss of nerve cells. Cox and colleagues now report that Parkin also acts on tuberculosis, triggering destruction of the bacteria by immune cells known as macrophages. Results appear online today (September 4, 2013) in the journal Nature.

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