Academic researcher-1
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Why Organelle Dysfunction Drives Neurodegeneration
Neurodegenerative diseases — including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — collectively affect over 50 million people worldwide and represent one of the largest unmet needs in modern medicine. Despite decades of investment, disease-modifying treatments remain limited. A growing body of evidence points to a convergent, subcellular explanation: dysfunction of intracellular organelles7,10.
Neurons are uniquely vulnerable cells. Unlike most tissues, they cannot upregulate glycolysis to compensate for energy deficits, making them critically dependent on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. They are also long-lived, non-dividing cells that accumulate damaged proteins over decades — rendering the efficiency of lysosomal protein degradation and autophagy essential for long-term survival. When these organelle systems fail, even subtly, the consequences are progressive and largely irreversible.
