Agata Copani on ATM Links DNA Damage to Neuronal Cell Cycle Activation and Apoptosis

COMMENT Cell Cycle Signaling, DNA Damage and Neuronal Apoptosis Three years ago, following an extensive review of the literature, my colleagues and I came to a hypothetical model on the relationship among cell cycle signaling, DNA damage, and neuronal apoptosis [

Agata Copani on Adult Neurogenesis—A Win Wnt Situation?

COMMENT The canonical Wnt signaling pathway has multiple roles in stem/progenitor cells. In embryonic stem cells, activation of Wnt promotes self-renewal and inhibits neural differentiation (1,2). In the central nervous system, Wnt3a is required for neural progen

Agata Copani on Amyloid-β—Turning Neurogenesis Into Neurogenocide?

COMMENT This paper by He and Shen is of great interest for several reasons. The first is that the authors address the link between neurogenesis and Alzheimer disease (AD) by studying the cell fate of neural progenitors isolated from AD autopsy specimens. The seco

Agata Copani on The pRb/E2F cell-cycle pathway mediates cell death in Parkinson's disease.

COMMENT This interesting paper continues the series of studies suggesting that cell cycle reactivation in neurons is causally related to death. Hoeglinger and colleagues show that the injection of MPTP into mice, or the application of MPP+ to dopaminergic neurons

Agata Copani on NSAIDs prevent, but do not reverse, neuronal cell cycle reentry in a mouse model of Alzheimer disease.

COMMENT Evidence exists that cell death seen in AD arises from neurons attempting to divide, and this is why researchers working in the field believe that AD therapy might benefit from drugs able to arrest cell division in neurons. Until this paper by Varvel and

Agata Copani on Cell Cycle Hypothesis Pedaling into Mainstream Acceptance? Results in Fly, Mouse Models Warrant a Second Look

COMMENT Surely, the paper by Khurana et al. supports the hypothesis that cell cycle reactivation in postmitotic neurons leads to death. In particular, the paper shows that 1. tau-induced neurodegeneration in Drosophila is partially prevented by cell cycle blockad

Agata Copani on Meet New Players, Histone Deacetylase and Sirtuin—Will They Help the Cell Cycle, DNA Repair, and Gene Expression Break Into Alzheimerology’s Major League?

COMMENT By using the p25 transgenic model of neurodegeneration, Kim and colleagues provide convincing evidence that DNA breakage and cell cycle reactivation coexist prior to neuronal death. New in the study is the demonstration that the underlying link between DN

Agata Copani on Target or Decoy: Are Drug Developers Chasing the Right Thing?

COMMENT I read with great interest the paper by Espay’s lab, which favors the hypothesis of a loss of function of the Aβ protein in the onset of AD neurodegeneration. My laboratory has been studying the physiological functions associated with soluble Aβ monomers

Agata Copani on Does More Aβ38 Mean Less Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s?

COMMENT Cullen and colleagues have measured CSF Aβ38 levels in 656 individuals across two clinical cohorts. CSF Aβ38 has been measured before and found to be interrelated with Aβ40, as both do not differ significantly between AD patients and cognitively unimpaire