Research brings hope of curing brain disease
Ian Sample, science correspondent
Monday June 18, 2007
Scientists have developed a revolutionary new treatment for neurological diseases that uses an injection to tweak the way genes work in the brain.
The research raises hopes for a new era of effective treatments for some of the most debilitating - and so far incurable - brain conditions, including cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
Tests of the therapy at Harvard Medical School in Boston found that a simple injection was able to cure mice of a potentially fatal brain disease. The researchers behind the breakthrough are planning further tests and expect to conduct human trials within five years.
The team used a powerful new technique called RNA interference to silence faulty genes or viruses that cause brain diseases. The principle of gene silencing is simple: scientists build tiny strands of the genetic material called RNA which, when injected into cells, latch on to problematic genes and smother them, effectively shutting them down.
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