Nature Cancer, Published online: 03 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s43018-026-01145-y

Huang, Hou, Yang et al. demonstrate that leptomeningeal metastatic cells favor the formation of a premetastatic niche by remodeling the choroid plexus vasculature through the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, which signals into endothelial cells through the aryl hydrocarbon receptor.

The development of genetically encoded fluorescent reporters, along with their corresponding knock-in mouse lines for labeling α-Syn inclusions, enables diverse applications in studying the propagation and pathological effects of α-Syn inclusions in the live brain.