26/11/2025
🧠 Does Parkinson's disease start in the kidneys and not the brain? A new study raises questions!
New research from China's Wuhan University suggests that Parkinson's may originate in the kidneys, after discovering abnormal deposits of the protein α-synuclein (α-Syn) within the kidneys of some patients, the same protein associated with nerve damage when it accumulates in the brain!
🔶 What did the researchers find?
🔸 Abnormal amounts of α-Syn in the kidneys of Parkinson's patients.
🔸 In animal experiments, healthy kidneys were able to eliminate the toxic proteins, while impaired kidneys caused them to accumulate and travel to the brain.
🔸 Even chronic kidney disease patients without neurological symptoms showed accumulations of α-Syn, suggesting that the kidneys may be an early repository for the protein.
🔷Why does this discovery matter?
🔹 It opens up the possibility that the disease process starts outside the brain, specifically in the kidneys.
🔹 Monitoring kidney health may become part of preventing or delaying the onset of the disease in the future.
🔹 Treatment approaches may change towards targeting peripheral organs (such as the kidneys) to prevent the harmful protein from travelling to the brain.
🔹 This research is still in its early stages, and data is still limited.
The results are promising, but need further confirmation and expanded human samples, and it is not yet possible to say that all cases of Parkinson's start in the kidneys, perhaps only in some patients.