The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7239 p328
8 March 2003

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Prion research may yield new treatment for variant CJD

The idea of using antibodies against prions, the proteins that underlie variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), has received a boost from a new study from Imperial College London. Researchers injected antibodies that bind the prion protein into mice with a form of scrapie, a prion disease that normally affects sheep.

The treatment reduced the amount of abnormal prions in the animals' spleens and kept them healthy for over 300 days after untreated animals had died. However, the antibodies did not work once clinical signs of the disease had developed.

Furthermore, the antibodies cannot pass into the brain where prions act to cause vCJD. Even so, researchers hope to refine this therapeutic strategy (Nature 2003;422:80).