I N D U S T R Y I N V E S T I G A T I O N with the build-up of misfolded proteins , which can lead to various forms of dementia , such as Alzheimer ’ s and Parkinson ’ s disease , and from prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease ( CJD ).
Induced hypothermia is used to treat patients in intensive care units – including newborn babies and traumatic brain injury patients – with the patients placed into a coma and their brains cooled to protect against damage . But this comes with associated risks , such as blood clotting and pneumonia . Could the cold shock protein be harnessed to treat patients without having to cool the body , offering a safer treatment for acute brain injury or a way of protecting the brain against dementia ?
In research published in EMBO Molecular Medicine , scientists at the UK Dementia Research Institute , University of Cambridge and the Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry , Freie Universität Berlin , studied whether a form of gene therapy known as antisense oligonucleotides ( ASOs ) could increase levels of the cold shock protein in the brains of mice – and hence protect them .
The team examined the gene that codes for the production of the cold shock protein
RBM3 CAN PROTECT THE BRAIN AGAINST DAMAGE ASSOCIATED WITH THE BUILD- UP OF MISFOLDED PROTEINS .
www . intelligenthealth . tech 41