Neurodegenerative Disease News and Research

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MGH, HSG to conduct PBT2 clinical trial in Huntington's disease

The Huntington Study Group (HSG), under the leadership of Ray Dorsey, M.D. with Johns Hopkins Medical and Diana Rosas, M.D. with Massachusetts General Hospital, is conducting a clinical trial in Huntington's disease (HD) throughout the United States and Australia, "A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, study to assess the safety and tolerability, and efficacy of PBT2 in patients with early to mid-stage Huntington's disease" comparing a 100 mg dose or 250 mg dose versus placebo.

8 Jun 2012

Plasma levels of tau appear to be a strong predictor for AD

A study by researchers at the Banner Sun Health Research Institute suggests that plasma levels of tau, a protein formed in the brain, appears to be a biomarker and a strong predictor for Alzheimer's disease.

7 Jun 2012

ASS234 molecule inhibits aggregation of the Alzheimer's protein

Researchers at Universitat Aut-noma de Barcelona (UAB), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Barcelona (UB) have developed a multitarget molecule, ASS234, which according to the results of in vitro studies conducted, inhibits the aggregation of the --amyloid protein, involved in Alzheimer's disease.

5 Jun 2012

Caffeine/coffee intake associated with reduced risk of dementia or delayed onset

Those cups of coffee that you drink every day to keep alert appear to have an extra perk - especially if you're an older adult. A recent study monitoring the memory and thinking processes of people older than 65 found that all those with higher blood caffeine levels avoided the onset of Alzheimer's disease in the two-to-four years of study follow-up. Moreover, coffee appeared to be the major or only source of caffeine for these individuals.

5 Jun 2012

FDA advisory committee votes in favor of Pfizer's tafamidis meglumine

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee voted on Pfizer's clinical data package for tafamidis meglumine.

25 May 2012

CHDI, Lundbeck enter collaboration to investigate targeted therapy for Huntington's disease

CHDI Foundation, Inc. and Lundbeck today announced a research collaboration to investigate a targeted therapy for Huntington's disease (HD). Currently, no treatment exists to slow or halt the progression of HD, a challenging hereditary neurodegenerative disease characterized by a triad of behavioral, cognitive, and motor symptoms.

21 May 2012

Administering vitamin K2 could possibly help patients with Parkinson's

Neuroscientist Patrik Verstreken, associated with VIB and KU Leuven, succeeded in undoing the effect of one of the genetic defects that leads to Parkinson's using vitamin K2. His discovery gives hope to Parkinson's patients.

11 May 2012

DYNC1H1 genetic mutation contributes to SMA-LED

Scientists have confirmed that mutations of a gene are responsible for some cases of a rare, inherited disease that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness: spinal muscular atrophy with lower extremity predominance, also known as SMA-LED.

11 May 2012

Biosynthetic polyphenol improves cognitive function in mice with AD

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have succeeded in developing a biosynthetic polyphenol that improves cognitive function in mice with Alzheimer's disease.

3 May 2012

Grape-derived compound may prevent neurodegenerative disorders involving tau neuropathology

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have gained insight into the mechanism by which a pathological brain protein called tau contributes to the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. This finding, published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, may provide the basis for future investigations on how to prevent tau from damaging brain circuits involved in cognitive function.

2 May 2012

Biosynthetic polyphenol may improve cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease patients

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have succeeded in developing a biosynthetic polyphenol that improves cognitive function in mice with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The findings, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, provide insight in determining the feasibility of biosynthetic polyphenols as a possible therapy for AD in humans, a progressive neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no cure.

2 May 2012

Positive results from Repligen's RG3039 Phase 1 study for spinal muscular atrophy

Repligen Corporation today announced positive results from a Phase 1 study to evaluate the pharmacokinetic (PK) and safety profile of RG3039, a novel small molecule drug candidate for the potential treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

25 Apr 2012

TopBP1 protein prevents early brain cells from DNA damage

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have rewritten the job description of the protein TopBP1 after demonstrating that it guards early brain cells from DNA damage. Such damage might foreshadow later problems, including cancer.

24 Apr 2012

Penn researchers continue efforts to differentiate Alzheimer's from FTLD

Teasing out the exact type or types of dementia someone suffers from is no easy task; neurodegenerative brain diseases share common pathology and often co-occur. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are continuing efforts to differentiate diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) from frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), as FTLD is often clinically difficult to distinguish from atypical presentations of AD.

21 Apr 2012

GE Healthcare, NXT2B partner to develop micro-scale radiotracer infrastructure

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, and NXT2B, a privately owned venture capital company, today announced they have entered into a joint financing agreement with the goal of developing a micro-scale radiotracer infrastructure including cyclotron and PET tracer production.

20 Apr 2012

Merkin Family Foundation pledges new commitment to the Broad Institute

The Merkin Family Foundation today announced a commitment to the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT to establish the Merkin Institute Fellows, a program that will support some of the most promising and ambitious scientists pursuing bold research at the Broad Institute.

19 Apr 2012

Study demonstrates how Parkinson's disease protein can spread in patient's brain

Last year, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that small amounts of a misfolded brain protein can be taken up by healthy neurons, replicating within them to cause neurodegeneration. The protein, alpha-synuclein (a-syn), is commonly found in the brain, but forms characteristic clumps called Lewy bodies, in neurons of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative disorders.

18 Apr 2012

Research on molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease has been described as the "looming epidemic on the horizon." More than 5 million Americans currently suffer from this neurodegenerative disease that robs patients of their memories, and this number is projected to triple by the middle of the century.

18 Apr 2012

Nuron Biotech licenses DNA amyloid beta 42 vaccine for AD

Nuron Biotech, Inc. today announced it has licensed from VITRUVIAN BioMedical, Inc. a gene-based (DNA) amyloid beta 42 (Aβ42) vaccine in preclinical development for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

9 Apr 2012

Stress-induced tolerance can prevent glaucoma

Working in mice, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have devised a treatment that prevents the optic nerve injury that occurs in glaucoma, a neurodegenerative disease that is a leading cause of blindness.

4 Apr 2012