Pick's Disease News and Research

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Pick's disease is named after Arnold Pick, a professor of psychiatry from the University of Prague who first discovered and described the disease in 1892 by examining the brain tissue of several deceased patients with histories of dementia.

Innovative approach to disrupt misfolding of tau proteins in neurodegenerative diseases

A spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD) are due to the accumulation of abnormal, misfolded tau proteins in the brain.

3 Apr 2024

Penn Medicine researchers identify new therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease

A gene encoding a protein linked to tau production-;tripartite motif protein 11 (TRIM11)-;was found to suppress deterioration in small animal models of neurodegenerative diseases similar to Alzheimer's disease (AD), while improving cognitive and motor abilities, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

27 Jul 2023

Targeting defective tau proteins may be needed to treat Alzheimer’s patients

In November, researchers reported the drug lecanemab slowed the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The effect was modest, but it has generated tremendous excitement because it was the first time a drug had been shown to be able to affect the course of this relentless, incurable disease.

26 Dec 2022

New biomarker can help identify people with a primary tauopathy

Zooming in on a single disease and studying it intensely is often the most productive route to finding treatments. But there's no easy way to distinguish among people living with any of the primary tauopathies -; a group of rare brain diseases marked by rapidly worsening problems with thinking and movement -; because the symptoms are too similar.

24 Nov 2022

Truncated tau protein may be a means for better diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease

In a new study of Alzheimer's disease, researchers at UC San Francisco have discovered that a relatively unstudied form of the tau protein associated with neurodegeneration may be a means for better diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

2 Jun 2022

Researchers identify motor neuron toxin associated with ALS

An international team of investigators has discovered that an inorganic polyphosphate released by nerve cells known as astrocytes in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) contributes to the motor neuron death that is the signature of these diseases.

10 Mar 2022

Researchers uncover new findings about the role of tau in neurodegenerative disease

Utilizing cutting-edge proteomics, researchers at the Buck Institute and elsewhere have mapped the "tau interactome" uncovering new findings about the role of tau in neurodegenerative disease. Publishing in Cell, scientists found that mutant tau impacts the function of mitochondria in human neurons.

20 Jan 2022

£375 million Government funding to improve treatment for neurodegenerative diseases

People living with neurodegenerative diseases could live longer, healthier lives due to innovative new research, following a government commitment to invest £375 million over the next 5 years.

14 Nov 2021

Study examines a pathway responsible for the formation of tau tangles in the brain

Since the discovery of Alzheimer's disease over a century ago, two hallmarks of the devastating illness have taken center stage.

12 May 2021

UCSB professor receives 2021 Potamkin Prize for major contributions to Alzheimer’s research

When UC Santa Barbara neurology professor Kenneth S. Kosik was a newly minted graduate in 1972, with bachelor's and master's degrees in English literature from Case Western University, becoming one of the foremost authorities in the field of Alzheimer's research was probably nowhere on his radar. But that would soon change.

15 Apr 2021

Study may help to better understand the pathological process involved in brain diseases

A team of researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has taken a major step toward understanding the mechanisms involved in the formation of large clumps of tau protein, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and several other neurodegenerative disorders.

1 Dec 2020

Scientists unlock crucial molecular details regarding tau's activity

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a type of dementia that appears earlier in life than Alzheimer's disease (AD).

15 Sep 2020

Sorting protein in neurons protects against neurodegenerative disorders

Like a sorting machine in an assembly line, a molecule known as VPS35 detects and removes defective proteins from neurons.

10 Jul 2019

Targeting multiple proteins may be key to treat neurodegenerative disorders

Nearly all major neurodegenerative diseases - from Alzheimer's to Parkinson's - are defined and diagnosed by the presence of one of four proteins that have gone rogue: tau, amyloid-beta, alpha-synuclein, or TDP-43.

6 Jul 2018

Gene therapy may be effective method for treating Niemann-Pick disease, type C1

For the first time, National Institutes of Health researchers have demonstrated in mice that gene therapy may be the best method for correcting the single faulty gene that causes Niemann-Pick disease, type C1 (NPC1).

26 Oct 2016

Newborn screen for Niemann-Pick disease type C ready for piloting

Researchers have developed a bile acid-based test that they believe could help screen for Niemann-Pick disease type C in newborns.

6 May 2016

Simple test for measuring bile acids in biological fluids can help diagnose severe fat storage disorder

Researchers have developed a quick and simple method for measuring bile acids in biological fluids that can be used to rapidly diagnosis a severe fat storage disorder that can lead to liver disease in infancy and neurological dysfunction starting in childhood or early adult life.

5 May 2016

New method could help scientists better predict disease-causing mutations in people's genes

Two researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have developed a method that could help clinicians and scientists better predict which mutations in people's genes could cause a disease and which would remain dormant.

18 Feb 2016

Mutation that increases sphingolipid levels can lead to neurodegeneration

A mutation that increases the level of a special class of sphingolipids--molecules important to cell structure and signaling--can lead to neurodegeneration due to problems with neuronal membranes, reports a research team led by Jackson Laboratory Research Scientist Lihong Zhao, Ph.D. and Professor Patsy Nishina, Ph.D.

7 Oct 2015

Vtesse reports preliminary results from VTS-270 Phase 1 trial for treatment of Niemann-Pick Disease Type C

Vtesse, Inc. announced preliminary results today from an open-label Phase 1 clinical trial with VTS-270 (a formulation of (2-hydroxypropyl)-beta-cyclodextrin) for treatment of Niemann-Pick Disease Type C (NPC) conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

6 Aug 2015