IMPROVED treatments for brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s may be on the cards, thanks to studies of a protein made by the bug that causes cholera. The protein seems to open the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain from substances that might damage it. The finding may lead to new ways to get drugs into the brain.
Several years ago, while trying to develop a cholera vaccine, Alessio Fasano of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore discovered that cholera bacteria (Vibrio cholerae) produce a toxin called zot. He found that this protein makes the wall…
