Using cellular model of AxD, recent studies reveal that GFAP mutations in astrocytes inhibit oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) proliferation and myelination by secreting CHI3L1 (Li et al., 2018) and disrupt intracellular vesicle regulation and ATP secretion (Jones et al., 2018), taking a step forward to understand how GFAP mutations in astrocytes affect intercellular communication and lead to AxD (Sofroniew, 2018). The gene discussed is GFAP; the disease is Alexander disease.