BMI Seminar // Multiple system atrophy: the oligodendroglial alpha-synucleinopathy

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare devastating neurodegenerative disorder commonly showing clinical overlaps with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and therefore often misdiagnosed in the daily praxis. MSA is characterized by ectopic filamentous alpha-synuclein accumulation in oligodendrocytes (glial cytoplasmic inclusions, GCIs) in contrast to the classical Lewy body pathology in neurons of PD and Dementia with Lewy bodies. Currently, the pathogenic mechanisms of the disease are unclear. We are interested to develop pre-clinical models of the disease that replicate the human pathology and natural history of MSA and give us the possibility to get insights into the early stages of the disease process. Finally, we apply these models for target validation and pre-clinical therapeutic screening with strong translation input for clinical trials targeting alpha-synucleinopathy.