Antibiotic for Huntington's disease?Aiming to slow Huntington's disease Huntington's disease, hereditary, acute disturbance of the central nervous system usually beginning in middle age and characterized by involuntary muscular movements and progressive intellectual deterioration; formerly called Huntington's chorea. , Robert M. Friedlander of Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a hospital in the Longwood Area of the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Mission Hill. With Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two founding members of Partners HealthCare. in Boston has tested inhibitors of caspases, a family of enzymes that cells produce in their death throes throe n. 1. A severe pang or spasm of pain, as in childbirth. See Synonyms at pain. 2. throes A condition of agonizing struggle or trouble: a country in the throes of economic collapse. (SN: 5/29/99, p. 351). An old antibiotic may offer an alternative: In mice genetically engineered genetically engineered adjective Recombinant, see there to develop an illness similar to the neurodegenerative disease Neurodegenerative disease A disease in which the nervous system progressively and irreversibly deteriorates. Mentioned in: Amnesia , the drug significantly delays the onset of symptoms and death, Friedlander and his colleagues report in the July NATURE MEDICINE. The investigators found that the antibiotic minocycline do not directly inhibit caspases, but instead it suppresses the activity of genes that encode several of the enzymes. It's not clear whether that's solely responsible for the drug's protective actions, but Friedlander's group isn't waiting to resolve that question. The researchers plan to launch initial trials of the antibiotic on people with Huntington's disease later this year. After all, the team notes, "minocycline has been used in humans for extended periods of time with relatively few side effects." |
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