Prion Disease News and Research

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Neuro-inflammation plays a crucial role in initiating prion disease

In a recent publication, researchers of the Computational Biology group at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine showed that neuro-inflammation plays a crucial role in initiating prion disease.

30 Nov 2012

Scientists devise new fluorescent probes to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases

Sticky plaques of proteins called amyloids mark several different, though related degenerative brain diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Creutzfeld-Jacobs. The symptoms of these disorders overlap and methods to diagnose and monitor them are not very advanced.

16 Aug 2012

Reducing copper in the body delays onset of prion disease

Many of us are familiar with prion disease from its most startling and unusual incarnations-the outbreaks of "mad cow" disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) that created a crisis in the global beef industry. Or the strange story of Kuru, a fatal illness affecting a tribe in Papua New Guinea known for its cannibalism. Both are forms of prion disease, caused by the abnormal folding of a protein and resulting in progressive neurodegeneration and death.

13 Aug 2012

Researchers identify new class of compounds that inhibit spread of prions

A team of University of Alberta researchers has identified a new class of compounds that inhibit the spread of prions, misfolded proteins in the brain that trigger lethal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals.

24 Jul 2012

Registration now open for Disease Models & Mechanisms' one-day symposium

Registration is now open for Disease Models & Mechanisms' one-day symposium entitled Protein-Folding Diseases: Models & Mechanisms.

11 Jul 2012

Soon a single therapy for range of brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s

In a study, published in Nature, researchers prevented brain cells dying in mice with prion disease. It is hoped the same method for preventing brain cell death could apply in other diseases. The findings are at an early stage, but have been heralded as “fascinating”.

8 May 2012

LCP molecules can treat prion diseases

Toxic prions in the brain can be detected with self-illuminating polymers. The originators, at Linköping University in Sweden, has now shown that the same molecules can also render the prions harmless, and potentially cure fatal nerve-destroying illnesses.

25 Apr 2012

Mod5 yeast prion contributes to cell survival under environmental stress

One of the greatest mysterious in cellular biology has been given a new twist thanks to findings reported in Science. Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute show that prions, proteins that transmit heritable information without DNA or RNA, can contribute to drug resistance and cellular adaptation. Their discovery of a yeast prion with these properties demonstrates the active role of the prion conversion in cellular fitness adaptation, providing new insights into the potentially broader function of prions in living organisms.

23 Apr 2012

Computer modeling supports theory that many dementias spread like prion diseases

A new technique for analyzing brain images offers the possibility of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict the rate of progression and physical path of many degenerative brain diseases, report scientists at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

11 Apr 2012

Computer program could help dementia patients manage their disease

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have developed a computer program that has tracked the manner in which different forms of dementia spread within a human brain. They say their mathematic model can be used to predict where and approximately when an individual patient's brain will suffer from the spread, neuron to neuron, of "prion-like" toxic proteins -- a process they say underlies all forms of dementia.

22 Mar 2012

Scientists identify single prion protein that causes neuronal death

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified a single prion protein that causes neuronal death similar to that seen in "mad cow" disease, but is at least 10 times more lethal than larger prion species.

10 Feb 2012

Prion protein uptake associated with development of Scrapie disease

Scrapie is a neurodegenerative disease which can function as a model for other diseases caused by an accumulation of proteins resulting in tissue malformations (proteinpathies), such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

30 Dec 2011

Fatal prion diseases have a hidden signature

Medical researchers in Canada and the United States recently published their joint findings that fatal prion diseases, which include BSE or "mad cow disease," have a hidden signature.

1 Dec 2011

New protein in the fruit fly eye may shed light on neurodegenerative diseases

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and collaborators have discovered a powerful new protein in the eye of the fruit fly that may shed light on blinding diseases and other sensory problems in humans.

18 Nov 2011

Researchers announce new method to build important heparin drug

Robert Linhardt is working to forever change the way some of the most widely used drugs in the world are manufactured. Today, in the journal Science, he and his partner in the research, Jian Liu, have announced an important step toward making this a reality. The discovery appears in the October 28, 2011 edition of the journal Science in a paper titled "chemoenzymatic synthesis of homogeneous ultra-low molecular weight heparins."

28 Oct 2011

Alzheimer's may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases

The brain damage that characterizes Alzheimer's disease may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob, according to newly published research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

4 Oct 2011

Researchers’ discovery may revolutionize treatment of Lou Gehrig’s disease

A team of researchers from the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute have found a key link between prions and the neurodegenerative disease ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The discovery is significant as it opens the door to novel approaches to the treatment of ALS.

20 Sep 2011

Researchers discover several chemical compounds against human prion diseases

In a new study NYU School of Medicine researchers report that they have found several chemical compounds, including an antidepressant, that have powerful effects against brain-destroying prion infections in mice, opening the door to potential treatments for human prion diseases.

15 Sep 2011

PREVENT licenses Amorfix's ProMIS to develop vaccines against misfolded prion diseases

The Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise Inc. (PREVENT), a national Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR), has signed an exclusive license with Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. of Missisauga, Ontario for the use of their proprietary ProMIS technology in developing vaccines (active immunotherapy) for the treatment of diseases caused by the formation of misfolded prion.

29 Aug 2011

PrioNet Canada awards University of Western Ontario $600,000 to study neurodegenerative disorders

The University of Western Ontario is one of nine universities which will share 2.9 million dollars in research grants announced by PrioNet Canada to study Prion diseases and neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's.

21 Jul 2011