Prion Disease News and Research

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Researchers contribute to key step in finding cure for prion-folding diseases in humans

The work of University of Alberta researchers and their teams has contributed to an important next step in finding a cure for deadly prion-folding diseases in humans and animals.

1 Aug 2013

Scientists take important step toward pharmacologic development of treatment for fatal brain disorders

A team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a mechanism that can prevent the normal prion protein from changing its molecular shape into the abnormal form responsible for neurodegenerative diseases. This finding, published in the July 18 issue of Cell Reports, offers new hope in the battle against a foe that until now has always proved fatal.

19 Jul 2013

Key to treating neurodegenerative prion diseases may lie in ribosome, shows research

New research results from Uppsala University, Sweden, show that the key to treating neurodegenerative prion diseases such as mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease may lie in the ribosome, the protein synthesis machinery of the cell. The results were recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

2 Jul 2013

TSRI scientists identify new drugs for human prion disease

Human diseases caused by misfolded proteins known as prions are some of most rare yet terrifying on the planet—incurable with disturbing symptoms that include dementia, personality shifts, hallucinations and coordination problems.

4 Apr 2013

Study identifies how new ALS gene mutations cause other diseases of the brain, muscle and bone

Researchers supported by The ALS Association have discovered how mutations in new amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) genes cause not only ALS but also other diseases of the brain, muscle and bone.

4 Mar 2013

Targeting CSF1R with selective inhibitors could help Alzheimer's

Scientists from the University of Southampton have identified the molecular system that contributes to the harmful inflammatory reaction in the brain during neurodegenerative diseases.

22 Feb 2013

JPND invites proposals from researchers to understand the underlying causes of neurodegenerative diseases

The EU Joint Programme - Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) is inviting calls for proposals from research teams across Europe to increase understanding of the factors that put people at risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases (ND) such as Alzheimer's and also to evaluate health and social care strategies for people living with these debilitating illnesses.

10 Dec 2012

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