Latest Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease Stories
Development may help shed light on disease in animals and protect human populationsCurrent tests to identify specific strains of infectious prions, which cause a range of transmissible diseases (such as mad cow) in animals and humans, can take anywhere from six months to a year to yield results "“ a time-lag that may put human populations at risk.Now, a group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute's Florida campus have developed a new method that cuts this critical time lag by...
An investigation of a rare, inherited form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease suggests that disrupted regulation of copper ions in the brain may be a key factor in this and other prion diseases.Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, discovered a striking relationship between changes in the copper-binding properties of abnormal prion proteins and the clinical features of prion disease in patients with certain rare, genetic mutations. They described their findings in a paper...
Whitehead Institute researchers have quintupled the number of identifiable prion proteins in yeast and have further clarified the role prions play in the inheritance of both beneficial and detrimental traits."The big debate in the field is are the prions functional "“ are they evolved to be prions, or are they always a disease, as in "mad cow'" disease in mammals," says Randal Halfmann, a graduate student in Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist's lab, and co-author of the paper featured in the...
A U.S. study suggests an imbalance of iron homeostasis is a common feature of prion disease-affected human, mouse and hamster brains. Dr. Neena Singh and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Creighton University said their findings provide insight into the mechanism of neurotoxicity in prion disorders and might lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies. Unlike other neurodegenerative conditions, prion disorders are sporadic, inherited and...
The discovery in common brewer's yeast of a new, infectious, misfolded protein -- or prion -- by University of Illinois at Chicago molecular biologists raises new questions about the roles played by these curious molecules, often associated with degenerative brain diseases like "mad cow" and its human counterpart, Creutzfeldt-Jakob.Susan Liebman, distinguished university professor of biological sciences, and postdoctoral research associate Basant Patel propagated the new prion from...
Imbalance of iron homeostasis is a common feature of prion disease-affected human, mouse, and hamster brains, according to a new study by Dr. Neena Singh and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, alongside collaborators from Creighton University. These findings, published March 13 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, provide new insight into the mechanism of neurotoxicity in prion disorders, and novel avenues for the development of therapeutic...
An Italian researcher said she's figured out how the human mad cow disease travels from the stomach to the brain. Chiara Zurzolo, a biology professor at Naples University, said the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prion uses the body's immune system to travel to the brain. The prion then starts killing brain neurons, which leads to dementia, ANSA reported Thursday. ''The infection passes to the brain along 'bridges' or 'motorway lanes' that are technically called nanotubes,'' she told the journal...
A British man was infected with human mad cow disease passed along through contaminated blood plasma, health officials say. It is the first time a case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD, has been linked to plasma, The Times of London reported Tuesday. The Health Protection Agency said the man, who was in his 70s and died recently of other causes, was infected with mad cow disease from a plasma transfusion before blood donation rules were tightened in the 1990s, the report said....
Scientists at University College London have developed a highly sensitive test that detects whether surgical instruments may be contaminated.The test can accurately detect the presence of prions, vCJD-causing proteins, on metal surfaces, and could help ensure that surgical decontamination processes are working.Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is a rare and fatal human neurodegenerative condition. While there is no recorded case of a patient developing vCJD after surgery, experts...
A blood test has been developed by Canadian researchers that can diagnose fatal chronic wasting disease in elk, and may provide an inexpensive approach to screening for mad cow disease.According to the researchers, the test looks for damaged cells in the blood, and may also provide a way to diagnose Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.The report appears in the journal Nucleic Acids Research."We can now take a blood sample from a live animal and look at the DNA patterns in the blood and...
