Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by progressive loss of neurons manifested as motor dysfunction and/or cognitive decline. Aberrant protein aggregation with altered physicochemical properties occurs in most neurodegenerative diseases. The pathophysiological mechanisms leading to the onset and progress of neurodegenerative diseases are still not fully understood. On the one hand, limited studies investigate neurodegenerative disease from human brain tissues. On the other, a comprehensive and efficient analysis method is needed to detect the signaling pathways evolved in neurodegenerative disease. Proteomics on human brains identifies key diagnostic biomarkers and treatment/therapeutic targets of neurodegenerative disorders. In recent years, several proteomics studies conducted on brain tissues from patients with neurodegenerative diseases have shown that changes in protein abundance or post-translational modification underly the disease pathogenesis. In this review, we summarize the major advances of human brain proteomics in the research on Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington’s disease as the most common neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, we proposed some perspective clues for future work.

Brain structural and cerebrovascular changes and neurodegenerative pathologies are common and inadequately elucidated health problems in aging brains. Prospective population-based neuropathological studies play a unique role in neuropathological research. Brain weight decrease, arteriopathy, venular collagenosis, capillary loss, and accumulation of abnormal proteins are significant pathologies in the aging process. However, studies based on true population samples are scarce, and there is an ambiguity regarding the pathogenic proteinopathy between normal aging and neurodegenerative disease. Therefore, together population-based pathological studies offer an insight into the brain changes and diseases in the aging process, which could bring progress in the research for mechanisms and therapeutic interventions. Here, we reviewed findings from truly population-based pathological studies of brain aging and a range of neurodegenerative markers to better characterize brain pathological changes.

The study of post-mortem human brains is fundamental to the discovery and diagnosis of most neurological diseases and an in-depth understanding of brain structure, function and disorders. Human brain banks use a standardized protocol to collect, process, and store post-mortem human brains and related tissues, together with relevant clinical information, and to provide the tissue samples and data to foster neuroscience research. A Standardized Operational Protocol (SOP) that is approved by and can be abided by all of the human brain banks in the China Human Brain Bank Consortium is critical to developing brain research in China. The first SOP of human brain banking in China was published in 2017 following the foundation of the China Human Brain Bank Consortium. So far, 20 members from different regions in China have joined the consortium, forming a nationwide collaboration network of human brain banks. To provide brain tissue samples of good quality and consistency to meet the increasing demand for neuroscience research, a revised SOP was drafted by experts from the China Human Brain Bank Consortium. Significant improvements in this new version of SOP include strengthened ethical guidelines, recruitment of matching controls, and more brain regions to be sampled for neuropathological evaluation.