Cat Poop Parasite Could Be Key To Curing Alzheimer’s And Parkinson’s

A groundbreaking study reveals that a common parasite found in cat litter could become a game-changer in the treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

This innovative approach, involving an engineered strain of Toxoplasma gondii, promises a novel method for delivering therapeutic proteins directly to the brain. 

Though still in the early stages, the study offers a hopeful glimpse into overcoming one of the most challenging barriers in neurological medicine.

According to a release, the study – led by the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Tel Aviv University and an international team of researchers, and published in Nature Microbiology – has also made the first successful step in finding out whether the parasites could be engineered for this purpose.

The world-first pioneering discovery represents an exciting new field of research, centred around the potential of using engineered brain parasites to deliver treatment across the blood-brain-barrier – a major complication for treatment of many neurological conditions.

The research team worked with the common brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii, already estimated to be carried by a third of the global population in its dormant state. Toxoplasma gondii has evolved to travel from the digestive system to the brain where it secretes its proteins into neurons, and researchers were keen to find out whether – with some key changes – this parasite could instead be used to safely deliver key therapeutic proteins that could help treat neurological diseases.

While most neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinsons and Rett Syndrome, have been linked in some way to protein dysfunction, targeting the problem at source has proved complex. Delivering therapeutics – including targeted proteins – across the blood-brain-barrier and into the correct location inside neurons, is difficult, and has so far limited the treatment options for these neurological conditions.

In this study, researchers explored whether the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, which itself has evolved to easily cross biological barriers such as blood-brain-barrier (but also placenta), could act as a medicine delivery vehicle to disease-affected brain cells. To test their hypothesis the study team first had to find out whether they could effectively make the parasites produce the therapeutic proteins, and then afterwards test whether the parasites would be able to “spit” the proteins back out into affected brain cells.