Antiprion drug
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Antiprion drugs are drugs that work against prions. The discovery of antiprion drugs is a priority because prion diseases are untreatable and fatal.[1] Therefore, it is a therapeutic priority to find effective anti-prion drugs.[citation needed]
Mechanism of action
The disease progression in prion diseases is probably due to the conformational change of the prion protein (PrP). PrP changes from alpha-helical conformation to a disease-associated, mainly beta-sheeted scrapie isoform (PrPSc), which forms amyloid aggregates. The drugs that contain N′-benzylidene-benzohydrazide core structure are likely to slow down this progression.[2] Drugs that target PrPC, the normal prion isoform, are also hypothesized to delay the progression of prion diseases.[3]
References
- ^ Mercer, Robert CC; Harris, David A (1 February 2019). "Identification of anti-prion drugs and targets using toxicity-based assays". Current Opinion in Pharmacology. 44: 20–27. doi:10.1016/j.coph.2018.12.005. ISSN 1471-4892. PMC 6561806. PMID 30684854.
- ^ Bertsch, U.; Winklhofer, K. F.; Hirschberger, T.; Bieschke, J.; Weber, P.; Hartl, F. U.; Tavan, P.; Tatzelt, J.; Kretzschmar, H. A.; Giese, A. (26 May 2005). "Systematic Identification of Antiprion Drugs by High-Throughput Screening Based on Scanning for Intensely Fluorescent Targets". Journal of Virology. 79 (12): 7785–7791. doi:10.1128/JVI.79.12.7785-7791.2005. PMC 1143673. PMID 15919931.
- ^ Le Bras, Alexandra (April 2019). "A new drug to treat prion diseases". Lab Animal. 48 (4): 116. doi:10.1038/s41684-019-0273-2. ISSN 1548-4475.