{"id":644536,"date":"2026-03-10T02:22:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/644536\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T02:22:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:22:33","slug":"parkinsons-protein-could-help-explain-alzheimers-gender-imbalance-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/644536\/","title":{"rendered":"Parkinson’s Protein Could Help Explain Alzheimer’s Gender Imbalance : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

A protein best known for its role in Parkinson’s<\/a> disease may help explain why women make up around two-thirds of Alzheimer’s cases<\/a>, according to new research.<\/p>\n

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in the US studied a group of 415 individuals, including cognitively healthy people and those with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, to identify biomarkers of disease.<\/p>\n

In people who had abnormal alpha-synuclein in their cerebrospinal fluid<\/a> and signs of Alzheimer’s-related brain changes on PET scans<\/a>, those brain changes were happening up to 20 times faster in women than in men.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the brain changes measured here were the harmful buildup of a protein called tau, characteristic of brains<\/a> damaged by Alzheimer’s<\/a> and other neurological diseases. Women with abnormal alpha-synuclein showed the fastest rise in tau over time, hinting at a potential biological difference.<\/p>\n

The findings suggest that misfolded alpha-synuclein may act like an accelerant in some cases of Alzheimer’s, and it could eventually help researchers design more targeted clinical trials<\/a> and treatments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“When we see disease-related changes<\/a> unfolding at dramatically different rates, we cannot keep approaching Alzheimer’s as though it behaves exactly the same way in everyone,” says<\/a> neuroradiologist Kejal Kantarci. “Co-pathologies may impact the disease process.”<\/p>\n

\"TauTau was projected to become more of a problem faster in women with abnormal alpha-synuclein. (Mak et al., JAMA Netw. Open, 2026)<\/p>\n

Both alpha-synuclein and tau proteins are produced naturally and have roles in keeping the brain healthy<\/a>. Problems arise when they start to malfunction and go off-script, though it’s not clear whether they’re causes or consequences of disease.<\/p>\n

Around half of Alzheimer’s patients are found<\/a> to have abnormal, misfolded alpha-synuclein proteins in the brain, though this particular problem is far more significant in Parkinson’s disease and Parkinson’s-related dementias<\/a>, where it’s believed to be one of the main drivers.<\/p>\n

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The researchers controlled for several factors, including age and genetic risk<\/a>, to help isolate the connection between these two proteins \u2013 although other factors not yet accounted for may also be playing a role.<\/p>\n

That the association between misfolded alpha-synuclein and a quicker rise in bad tau was only found in women suggests that there’s something happening at a biological level that isn’t matched in men, and finding out what that is could improve our understanding of Alzheimer’s.<\/p>\n

“This opens an entirely new direction for understanding why women bear a disproportionate burden of dementia,” says<\/a> neuroscientist Elijah Mak.<\/p>\n

The team has some ideas about what may be behind the effect, though those hypotheses still need to be tested. A greater and more sudden drop in estrogen levels in women in later life<\/a> may be a factor, as estrogen can act as a protective shield<\/a> against the buildup of toxic proteins.<\/p>\n

Another idea is that malfunctioning alpha-synuclein proteins act as a “second hit amplifier,” increas<\/a>ing inflammation<\/a> in the brain and worsening tau clumping.<\/p>\n

Related: Microplastics May Be Fueling Parkinson’s Disease, Scientists Warn<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The study isn’t proof of cause-and-effect regarding alpha-synuclein and tau issues, and the median follow-up period was relatively short \u2013 just over a year. Longer studies may reveal a more complete picture of how these protein changes shape Alzheimer’s over time.<\/p>\n

Still, each new clue helps researchers build a clearer picture of how Alzheimer’s can get started and why some groups of individuals \u2013 including women \u2013 are at a higher risk of developing the disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The team also suggests that their findings might prove valuable in diagnosing Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and related dementias, helping to differentiate between overlapping conditions that can sometimes mask one another.<\/p>\n

“Recognizing these sex-specific differences could help us design more targeted clinical trials and ultimately more personalized treatment strategies,” says<\/a> Kantarci.<\/p>\n

The research has been published in JAMA Network Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A protein best known for its role in Parkinson’s disease may help explain why women make up around…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":644537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[210,352,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-644536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-msft-content","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116202500879965625","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}