Motor neurone illness (MND) is a deadly neurological situation, wherein the nerve cells controlling the muscle mass that allow us to maneuver, converse, breathe and swallow endure degeneration and die.
One in 300 Australians will probably be recognized with MND throughout their lifetime, nevertheless dependable prognosis happens late in illness development, leading to irreversible nerve harm, with a median life expectancy of simply 27 months after prognosis.
“There are still huge gaps in our understanding of what causes motor neurone disease, and in the development of effective treatment options,” Associate Professor Rogers mentioned.
“With no known cure, we urgently need to gain a better understanding of this disease so we can develop more successful therapies and improve patient outcomes.”
The analysis undertaking will examine if an endogenous retrovirus causes motor neurone illness, and whether or not antisense remedy towards a retroviral protein might assist battle the illness.
Let’s break down a few of these key phrases:
- Endogenous means naturally occurring inside the physique.
- Endogenous Retroviruses (ERVs) are historical viruses that started to be built-in into the human genome some 30-40 million years in the past and have become mounted in our DNA.
- Antisense remedy is an method to preventing ailments utilizing quick DNA-like molecules referred to as antisense oligonucleotides, and has lately emerged as probably the most promising hope for the therapy of a variety of neurodegenerative and neuromuscular problems.
So basically, the researchers are making an attempt to see if remedies generally used towards different ailments would possibly work towards MND.
“Our cutting-edge project will use genomic and cellular tools to map out how endogenous retroviral remnants may alter cells and cause motor neurone disease,” Rogers mentioned.
“We will then test whether antisense therapy targeted to an endogenous retroviral protein can be used to successfully treat MND.”
Source: www.9news.com.au
