Judith wrote:
Gail,
I'm sending you a couple of news items I found. I'm so tired I don't
know if I'm coming or going.
I'm not able to spend much time at the computer because my muscles
seize up, which is why you haven't heard from me. No energy, no stamina,
can't seem to get aything done.
If you think these items are worthy of the list, which I'm not
folowing, feel free to post 'em.
Thanks for keeping me in the loop. I'll try to get them off to Simon's
site tomorrow.
Judith
Researchers gain insight into Huntington's
March 22, 2001
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Researchers have gained the first insights into why
Huntington's disease, a devastating degenerative disorder, develops,
according to scientists at Johns Hopkins University.
The rare neurodegenerative disease is genetic, striking about one in
10,000 with twitching movements that progress to loss of coordination
followed by loss of memory and then loss of movement. It generally
strikes adults between the ages of 30 and 45 and is always fatal after
about 15 years.
Scientists discovered the gene for Huntington's disease in 1993, but
they never knew how the gene causes a patch of nerve cells in the brain
to die, thus causing the disease.
"We know the disease is at the protein level, the gene makes an abnormal
protein," said Dr. Christopher Ross, the lead researcher of a paper
being published in Science magazine. "What we learned is this abnormal
protein gums up signals within brain cells. Signals these cells need to
survive."
When cells don't receive those signals, they die. That is what happens
to the important nerve cells in the brain.
The discovery has several implications.
First, it will help researchers understand what is causing other, less
common neurodegenerative genetic disorders. It could also be relevant to
people working with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, which may be
caused by a similar mechanism. And, most important, it will give
researchers a target to aim at in the effort to develop a drug effective
against Huntington's.
Ross said several steps remain before development of a drug, including
verifying the mechanism in animals and finding compounds that block the
process.
© 2001 Cable News Network.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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Today’s Research...
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