Ancient viruses have really gotten on our nerves, but in the best of ways. One particular retrovirus — embedded in the DNA of jawed vertebrates — helps turn on production of a protein needed to ...

Human brains (and the brains of other vertebrates) are able to process information faster because of myelin, a fatty substance that forms a protective sheath over the axons of our nerve cells and ...

Researchers report February 15 in the journal Cell that ancient viruses may be to thank for myelin—and, by extension, our large, complex brains. The team found that a retrovirus-derived genetic ...

Edited by: Karen Young Kreeger K.W. Wucherpfennig, J.L. Strominger, "Molecular mimicry in T cell-mediated autoimmunity: Viral peptides activate human T cell clones specific for myelin basic protein," ...

The idea that infiltrating T cells contribute to a neurodegenerative environment in aging and in Alzheimer’s disease has gotten another boost. In the June 27 Nature Neuroscience, scientists led by ...