CCMB study explores link between flu, Covid-19 and Parkinson’s disease

A CCMB study published in Cell Reports has found that viral RNA structures from influenza and Covid-19 can bind to α-synuclein, a protein associated with Parkinson’s disease. Researchers also identified DDX39A as a protein that can disrupt these structures

Hyderabad: Not every viral infection can cause damage to the brain. However, repeated exposure might tilt the odds against us, says Dr Swasti Raychaudhuri, senior scientist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), whose new study seeks to shed fresh light on the question of how influenza and Covid-19 can pave the way for Parkinson’s disease.

While doctors have long linked viral infections to neurodegenerative diseases, the underlying cellular mechanisms have remained a mystery.

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The new study from Hyderabad-based CCMB, published in Cell Reports, discovered that RNA viruses, such as those causing flu and Covid-19, fold their genetic material into complex three-dimensional shapes called RNA G-quadruplexes (rG4s).

When influenza or Covid-19 viruses invade human cells, their rG4 structures bind directly to α-synuclein, a protein notorious for forming abnormal amyloid clumps in the brains of Parkinson’s patients.

However, according to CCMB scientists, human cells fight back. Upon infection, a specialised protein called DDX39A binds to both the viral rG4s and α-synuclein, thereby unwinding the viral structures.

“The virus fails to replicate with its RNA structures dismantled, and thus, the viral load in the cells decreases. Thus, slowing down α-synuclein amyloid formation,” says Aanchal, the study’s first author.

Dr Raychaudhuri’s lab is now working to understand how chronic, routine viral exposures could lay the groundwork for neurodegeneration years down the line, potentially turning common infections into long-term neurological threats.