NIAID Experimental Treatment Study Slows Prion Disease, Extends Life of Mice

Friday, Aug. 2, 2019 NIAID Experimental Treatment Study Slows Prion Disease, Extends Life of Mice Using an experimental treatment in laboratory mice, NIAID scientists and colleagues have slowed the progression of scrapie, a degenerative central nervous disease of sheep and goats caused by prions, and greatly extended the rodents' lives. The scientists used antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), synthetic compounds that inhibit the formation of specific proteins. Scrapie is a valuable experimental model for the development of human prion disease therapies. The researchers plan to expand their scrapie ASO studies to human prion diseases. Other researchers have seen promising initial results in people when ASOs are directed against Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), and Huntington's disease. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases  |  National Institutes of Health Update your subscriptions, modify your password or e-mail address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your e-mail address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com. This service is provided to you at no charge by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). This email was sent to myhcistech.healthnews360@blogger.com using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases · 5601 Fishers Lane · Bethesda, MD 20892 · 1-866-284-4107