CRYAB and Alexander disease: The pathological hallmark of AxD is the occurrence of intracytoplasmic eosinophilic aggregates in astrocytes (Rosenthal fibers), containing GFAP, the small heat shock proteins (sHSPs), alphaB-Crystallin and HSP27, and ubiquitin (Mignot et al., 2004; Hsiao et al., 2005).