Narcolepsy, scientists unmask the culprit of an enigmatic disease
(WorldNews Switzerland)

Bellinzona-Berne, September 19, 2018 - Patients with a rare disease, called narcolepsy, suffer of excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy(brief episodes of loss of muscle tone triggered by emotions). The disease, first described in 1877, depends on genetic and environmental factors and is caused by the loss in the brain of some neurons that produce a neurotransmitter called hypocretin, but the underlying mechanism remained mysterious. A study published in the renowned scientific journal Nature reports, for the first time, the existence in patients with narcolepsy of autoreactive T lymphocytes (cells of the immune system) that recognize hypocretin and can mediate an immune response leading...