Prion Disease News and Research

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Prion disease in mice treated successfully with antisense oligonucleotides

Prion proteins are known to cause scrapie – a neurodegenerative condition. It is capable of debilitating damage to the nervous system. Researchers have successfully devised a treatment for this condition which prolonged the lives of the lab mice infected with the prions.

1 Aug 2019

Scientists create 'mini-brain' for studying sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

National Institutes of Health scientists have used human skin cells to create what they believe is the first cerebral organoid system, or "mini-brain," for studying sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

16 Jun 2019

Researchers develop new gene-targeted approach to study chronic wasting disease in mice

Infectious proteins called prions cause a group of related, fatal and incurable neurodegenerative disorders, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy or Mad Cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, both of which affect humans.

12 Jun 2019

Study finds no damaging role for microglia during retinal prion disease in mice

National Institutes of Health scientists studying the progression of inherited and infectious eye diseases that can cause blindness have found that microglia, a type of nervous system cell suspected to cause retinal damage, surprisingly had no damaging role during prion disease in mice.

28 Mar 2019

Skin samples hold early signs of prion disease, research suggests

Prions can infect both humans and animals, causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, mad cow disease in cattle, and chronic wasting disease in elk and deer. The infectious, misfolded protein particles often go undetected as they destroy brain tissue, causing memory loss, mobility issues, and ultimately death.

23 Jan 2019

Major soil organic matter compound battles chronic wasting disease

A major compound in soil organic matter degrades chronic wasting disease prions and decreases infectivity in mice, according to a study published November 29 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Judd Aiken of the University of Alberta, and colleagues.

3 Dec 2018

Antibiotic could protect against age-related brain diseases

An antibiotic, minocycline, can increase the lifespan of roundworms by preventing the build-up of proteins during aging, a study in the open-access journal eLife reports.

28 Nov 2018

Scientists find evidence of prions in the eyes of CJD patients

National Institutes of Health scientists and their colleagues have found evidence of the infectious agent of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in the eyes of deceased CJD patients.

21 Nov 2018

Researchers produce artificial antibody capable of blocking prions in the laboratory

Prion diseases affect the brain, causing neurodegenerative problems that always lead to death. They attracted attention in the late 1990s due to the "Mad Cow" scare.

22 Oct 2018

Study sheds light on molecular mechanisms underlying progression of prion diseases

A new study has shed light on the mechanisms underlying the progression of prion diseases and identified a potential target for treatment.

21 Sep 2018

Microglia may play key role in slowing progression of prion diseases, research suggests

Prion diseases are slow degenerative brain diseases that occur in people and various other mammals. No vaccines or treatments are available, and these diseases are almost always fatal. Scientists have found little evidence of a protective immune response to prion infections.

17 May 2018

The Truth Behind Donating Your Body to a Medical School

Cambridge University is one of a decreasing number of medical schools where undergraduates learn anatomy primarily through hands-on dissection. Cecilia Brassett, a Clinical Anatomist at The University of Cambridge, discusses her thoughts on the recent rise in donations and explains how the donors are used to train medical students.

27 Apr 2018

Study finds no evidence of chronic wasting disease transmissibility in macaques

Chronic wasting disease did not cross the species barrier to infect cynomolgus macaque monkeys during a lengthy investigation by National Institutes of Health scientists exploring risks to humans.

26 Apr 2018

Mice study illustrates potential risks associated with prion transmission

Familial human prion diseases are passed within families and are associated with 34 known prion protein mutations.

9 Mar 2018

TSRI research offers explanation for why neurons die off in Parkinson's disease

An estimated 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson's disease--an incurable neurodegenerative disorder that leads to an increasing loss of motor control.

6 Mar 2018

NIH scientists modify new RT-QuIC assay to detect Parkinson's, dementia with Lewy bodies

National Institutes of Health scientists developing a rapid, practical test for the early diagnosis of prion diseases have modified the assay to offer the possibility of improving early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

9 Feb 2018

‘Sushi-like’ nanodiscs provide structural snapshots of misfolding proteins

When proteins misfold, accumulate and clump around insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, they kill cells. Now, researchers, including University of Michigan biophysicists, have obtained a structural snapshot of these proteins when they are most toxic, detailing them down to the atomic level.

15 Dec 2017

Researchers win NIH grants for Alzheimer's research on Amish resilience and rapid onset

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have received two grant awards, in partnership with investigators from other institutions, from the National Institutes of Health to conduct major studies on Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of memory loss and other forms of dementia in older persons.

14 Dec 2017

Study points to possible targets for therapeutic intervention in the fight against ALS

Scientists at the University of Alberta may have found possible targets for therapeutic interventions in the fight against Lou Gehrig's disease.

1 Dec 2017

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease patients harbor infectious prions in their skin

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)- the human equivalent of mad cow disease- is caused by rogue, misfolded protein aggregates termed prions, which are infectious and cause fatal damages in the patient's brain. CJD patients develop signature microscopic sponge-like holes in their brains.

23 Nov 2017