Vaccines mimicking conformational epitopes on α-synuclein fibrils provide immunity to Parkinson's disease

Welcome to the 38th episode of The Brain Podcast - the official podcast of the journals Brain and Brain Communications.

This episode features a discussion with senior author Professor Gültekin Tamgüney of the Brain article entitled: Vaccines mimicking conformational epitopes on α-synuclein fibrils provide immunity to Parkinson's disease

We discuss the an exciting approach of structurally engineering fungal proteins to mimic the specific conformational epitopes of pathological alpha-synuclein fibrils. The authors develop a precise method for inducing targeted immunity against synucleinopathies. In vivo testing demonstrated efficacy, with immunized models achieving up to a 42% extension in survival along with robust antibody recognition of human Parkinson's and Lewy body tissues. This study offers a proof-of-concept for human neurodegenerative disease therapeutics.

Check out the full article on the Brain website as part of the August 2026 issue: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awag099

This episode was co-hosted, edited and produced by Michael David and Adam Handel, co-produced by Xin You Tai and Antonia Johnston, original music by Ammar Al-Chalabi.