[Science Report]:Testing Possible Treatments for CJD


This is the VOA SpecialEnglish Science Report.

American scientists say that two drugs have shown to be effectiveagainst the protein thought to cause the deadly brain conditionCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD.

CJD causes holes to develop in the brain. It is rare, and cannotbe cured. It usually affects people sixty-five years old or older.More than one-hundred people in Europe have died or are dying fromit. Most of the victims live in Britain.

These victims suffer a kind of CJD linked to the cattle sicknessknown as Mad Cow Disease. Its real name is bovine spongiformencephalopathy, or BSE. Scientists believe that eating infected beeffrom a cow suffering BSE is one cause of CJD. The infectiousproteins are thought to damage healthy proteins and cause holes inthe brain.

The American researchers reported the results of their recentwork in "The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." Theresearchers are from the University of California at San Francisco.They say their research shows that two drugs can clear theinfectious proteins from mouse brain cells.

The drugs are quinacrine and chlorpromazine. Quinacrine was usedin the Nineteen-Forties to treat malaria. Chlorpromazine is used totreat the mental disorder schizophrenia. Quinacrine appears to bemore effective in stopping the deadly protein activity. However,chlorpromazine crosses more easily into the brain.

The researchers in San Francisco already have treated two CJDpatients with the drugs. One patient is British. The other patientis American. The results are not clear, although a British newspaperhas reported improvement in one of the patients.

The researchers are preparing to test the drugs in more people tosee if they are effective against CJD. This process will begin nextmonth. The patients will go to the university hospital for two weeksof treatment with one or both drugs. They will continue taking thedrugs for another six months at home.

The study will try to find the correct amount of each drug touse. And it will measure how much of each drug gets into thepatients' brains. The treatment will be considered successful ifpatients survive longer and are able to take part in dailyactivities of normal living.

This VOA Special English Science Report was written by NancySteinbach.

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