Alzheimer's Breakthrough

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Current Events Articles Newspaper Article: Alzheimer's breakthrough hailed as 'turning point' Professor Giovanna Mallucci says the hope is to arrest the process of brain cell death Continue reading the main story Related Stories Alzheimer's breakthrough: Cure or hype? Stopping brain death breakthrough Alzheimer's brain scan advances The discovery of the first chemical to prevent the death of brain tissue in a neurodegenerative disease has been hailed as the "turning point" in the fight against Alzheimer's disease. More work is needed to develop a drug that could be taken by patients. But scientists say a resulting medicine could treat Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and other diseases. In tests on mice, the Medical Research…show more content…
"The world won't change tomorrow, but this is a landmark study." Cells starve The research team at the Medical Research Council Toxicology Unit, based at the University of Leicester, focused on the natural defense mechanisms built into brain cells. Continue reading the main story Neurodegeneration A neurodegenerative disease is one in which the cells of the brain and spinal cord are lost The functions of these cells include decision making and control of movements These cells are not easily regenerated, so the effects of diseases can be devastating Neurodegenerative diseases include Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis and Huntington's Source: London Brain Centre When a virus hijacks a brain cell it leads to a build-up of viral proteins. Cells respond by shutting down nearly all protein production in order to halt the virus's spread. However, many neurodegenerative diseases involve the production of faulty or "misfolded" proteins. These activate the same defenses, but with more severe…show more content…
The researchers used a compound which prevented those defense mechanisms kicking in and in turn halted neurodegeneration. Continue reading the main story Analysis Human brain It is rare to get cautious scientists keen to describe a study in mice as a turning point in treating Alzheimer's. It is early science, a lot can go wrong between a drug for mice and a drug for humans and the only published data is for prion disease, not even Alzheimer's. So why the excitement? It is the first time that any form of neurodegeneration has been completely halted, so it is a significant landmark. It shows that the process being targeted has serious potential. If this can be successfully developed, which is not guaranteed, the prize would be huge. In Parkinson's the alpha-synuclein protein goes wrong, in Alzheimer's it's amyloid and tau, in Huntington's it's the Huntington protein. But the errant protein is irrelevant here as the researchers are targeting the way a cell deals with any misfolded protein. It means one drug could cure many diseases and that really would be something to get excited
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