A report by Bosson et al. shows that astrocyte Ca2+ hyperactivity contributes to early Aβ toxicity, which involves TRPA1 channels and is associated with CA1 neuron hyperactivity (Bosson et al., 2017), while blocking of TRPA1 channels can reduce myelin damage during the energy deprivation following ischaemia or hypoxia in MS (Davies et al., 2013; Hamilton et al., 2016). Here, TRPA1 is linked to myeloid sarcoma.