Scientists Identify First Potentially Effective Therapy for Human Prion Disease

[Northerner]

Human diseases caused by misfolded proteins known as prions are some of most rare yet terrifying on the planet?incurable with disturbing symptoms that include dementia, personality shifts, hallucinations and coordination problems. The most well-known of these is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which can be described as the naturally occurring human equivalent of mad cow disease.

Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have for the first time identified a pair of drugs already approved for human use that show anti-prion activity and, for one of them, great promise in treating these universally fatal disorders.

http://www.scripps.edu/news/press/2013/20130403lasmezas.html