Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease medical therapy
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Medical Therapy
As of 2007, there is no cure for CJD, a fatal disease, and the search for viable treatments continues. An experimental treatment was given to a Northern Irish teenager, Jonathan Simms, beginning in January 2003.[1] The medication, called pentosan polysulphate (PPS) and used to treat interstitial cystitis, is infused into the patient's lateral ventricle within the brain. PPS does not seem to stop the disease from progressing, and both brain function and tissue continue to be lost. However, the treatment is alleged to slow the progression of the otherwise untreatable disease, and may have contributed to the longer than expected survival of the seven patients that were studied.[2] The CJD Therapy Advisory Group to the UK Health Departments advises that data are not sufficient to support claims that pentosan polysulphate is an effective treatment and suggests that further research in animal models is appropriate.[3] A 2007 review of the treatment of 26 patients with PPS finds no proof of efficacy because of the lack of accepted objective criteria.[4]
Scientists have investigated using RNA interference to slow the progression of scrapie in mice. The RNA blocks production of the protein that the CJD process transforms into prions. This research is unlikely to lead to a human therapy for many years.[5]
References
- ↑ "Teenager with vCJD 'stable". BBC News. 13 December2004. Retrieved 2007-01-01. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ Bone, Ian (12 July 2006). "Intraventricular Pentosan Polysulphate in Human Prion Diseases: A study of Experience in the United Kingdom". Medical Research Council. Retrieved 2007-01-01. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ "Use of Pentosan Polysulphate in the treatment of, or prevention of, vCJD". Department of Health:CJD Therapy Advisory Group. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- ↑ Rainov NG, Tsuboi Y, Krolak-Salmon P, Vighetto A, Doh-Ura K (2007). "Experimental treatments for human transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: is there a role for pentosan polysulfate?". Expert opinion on biological therapy. 7 (5): 713–26. doi:10.1517/14712598.7.5.713. PMID 17477808.
- ↑ "Revamp of brain 'could slow CJD'". BBC News. 4 December 2006. Retrieved 2007-01-01. Check date values in:
|date=(help)