Neurodegenerative Disease News and Research

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Keystone meeting focuses on neuroinflammation, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases

As Alzheimer's disease sweeps through the brain, do the brain's immune cells sit idly by and let it happen? Or could they overreact and make the disease worse?

23 Mar 2015

Hypermethylation serves as protective barrier inhibiting development of ALS, FTD

Penn Medicine researchers have discovered that hypermethylation - the epigenetic ability to turn down or turn off a bad gene implicated in 10 to 30 percent of patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) - serves as a protective barrier inhibiting the development of these diseases.

21 Mar 2015

AbbVie signs exclusive worldwide license agreement with C2N for Alzheimer's disease therapies

AbbVie today announced that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with C2N Diagnostics, a privately held protein diagnostic and therapeutic discovery company, to develop and commercialize a portfolio of anti-tau antibodies for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and other neurological disorders.

19 Mar 2015

Viagra can have anti-cancer, anti-Alzheimer's disease effects if used with new drugs

Chaperone proteins play an important role in protein folding in human cells and in bacteria and are promising new targets for drugs to treat cancer and Alzheimer's disease and for novel antiviral drugs and antibiotics. How existing drugs such as Viagra or Cialis and a derivative of the drug Celebrex, for example, can reduce the activity of a specific chaperone protein, with the potential for anti-tumor and anti-Alzheimer's disease effects, is described in a Review article in DNA and Cell Biology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

10 Mar 2015

New pharmacological compounds block nerve cell damage in mouse models of MS

A newly characterized group of pharmacological compounds block both the inflammation and nerve cell damage seen in mouse models of multiple sclerosis, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published online this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

28 Feb 2015

Study shows physical similarities, differences between extrovert types in the brain

Everyday experience and psychological studies alike tell us that there are two different types of extroverts: The gregarious "people-persons" who find reward in sharing affection and affiliation with others, and the ambitious "go-getters" who flash those bright-white smiles in their pursuit of achievement and leadership agendas.

27 Feb 2015

UK scientists find new approach to treat Parkinson's disease

UK scientists have developed a peptide that sticks to the protein that causes Parkinson's disease, stopping it from killing brain cells. The research highlights a potential new route for slowing the progress of this incurable disease.

26 Feb 2015

Neurodegenerative disease research using NMR: an interview with Christian Griesinger

Christian Griesinger, director of the NMR-based Structural Biology department at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, talks about his research into neurodegenerative diseases using NMR to examine the dynamics of disordered proteins.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 23 Feb 2015

Meditation appears to help preserve the brain's gray matter

Since 1970, life expectancy around the world has risen dramatically, with people living more than 10 years longer. That's the good news.

6 Feb 2015

Isis receives $10 million from Biogen Idec to begin IND-supporting studies of ISIS-BIIB4 Rx

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has earned a $10 million milestone payment from Biogen Idec for initiating the investigational new drug (IND)-supporting studies of ISIS-BIIB4 Rx.

5 Feb 2015

People who carry longevity gene variant have larger brain region

People who carry a variant of a gene that is associated with longevity also have larger volumes in a front part of the brain involved in planning and decision-making, according to researchers at UC San Francisco.

29 Jan 2015

Researchers uncover mechanism by which anti-inflammatory processes may cause Alzheimer's

Inflammation has long been studied in Alzheimer's, but in a counterintuitive finding reported in a new paper, University of Florida researchers have uncovered the mechanism by which anti-inflammatory processes may trigger the disease.

23 Jan 2015

Research findings may lead to new treatment for hypothyroidism

An international research team led by physician-scientists at Rush University Medical Center have gained new insights into hypothyroidism - a condition affecting about 10 million people in the U.S. - that may lead to new treatment protocols for the disease, particularly among the approximately 15 percent of patients for whom standard treatments are less effective.

14 Jan 2015

Novastem uses Stemedica's stem cell products to treat patient in ischemic stroke study

Novastem, a leader in regenerative medicine, announces the treatment of its first patient in its study for ischemic stroke at Clinica Santa Clarita.

25 Dec 2014

Scrapie pathogens can convert human prion protein to a pathological state

INRA scientists have shown for the first time that the pathogens responsible for scrapie in small ruminants (prions) have the potential to convert the human prion protein from a healthy state to a pathological state. In mice models reproducing the human species barrier, this prion induces a disease similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

24 Dec 2014

Researchers use novel technique to identify microlesions in brain tissue from epileptic patients

Using an innovative technique combining genetic analysis and mathematical modeling with some basic sleuthing, researchers have identified previously undescribed microlesions in brain tissue from epileptic patients. The millimeter-sized abnormalities may explain why areas of the brain that appear normal can produce severe seizures in many children and adults with epilepsy.

17 Dec 2014

Isis Pharmaceuticals begins ISIS-DMPK Rx clinical study in DM1 patients

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has initiated a study for ISIS-DMPK Rx in patients with Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1). DM1 is a rare genetic neuromuscular disease caused by the production of toxic dystrophia myotonica-protein kinase (DMPK) RNA in cells. ISIS-DMPKRx is specifically designed to reduce toxic DMPK RNA.

16 Dec 2014

ALS Association announces research funds to further understand genetic cause of ALS

The ALS Association is pleased to announce the award of $326,662 in research funds to expand ongoing natural history studies in order to further understand the most common genetic cause of ALS, in preparation for clinical trials in those whose disease is affected by this gene.

14 Dec 2014

IRCM researchers uncover mechanism that regulates dopamine levels in the brain

Researchers in Montréal led by Jacques Drouin, D.Sc., uncovered a mechanism regulating dopamine levels in the brain by working on a mouse model of late onset Parkinson's disease.

12 Dec 2014

Genetics may play major role in Lou Gehrig's disease, study reveals

Genetics may play a larger role in causing Lou Gehrig's disease than previously believed, potentially accounting for more than one-third of all cases, according to one of the most comprehensive genetic studies to date of patients who suffer from the condition also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

6 Dec 2014