Re: New TBI treatments

[Guest guest]

Wow, this sounds very promising. I hope the further clinical trials continue to

show positive results.

Sent from my iPhone

McGee, EMT-P

> Public release date: 14-Dec-2010

> Contact: Kirchweger

> Kirchweger@...

> 858-0

> Salk Institute

> Compound derived from curry spice is neuroprotective against stroke and

> traumatic brain injury

>

> LA JOLLA, CA--A synthetic derivative of the curry spice turmeric, made by

> scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, dramatically

> improves the behavioral and molecular deficits seen in animal models of

> ischemic stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Two new studies suggest

> that the novel compound may have clinical promise for these conditions,

> which currently lack good therapies.

>

> Ischemic stroke is the leading cause of disability and the third leading

> cause of death of older people in the United States, while TBI is the

> leading cause of death and disability in both civilians and military

> personnel under the age of 45; in particular, it is the major cause of

> disability in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In both

> conditions, those who survive frequently have serious behavioral and memory

> deficits. The only FDA-approved treatment for stroke is tissue plasminogen

> activator (TPA), which is effective only in about 20 percent of cases. There

> is no clinically documented treatment for TBI.

>

> In earlier studies, R. Schubert. Ph.D., and Pamela Maher, Ph.D., in

> the Salk Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory had developed a series of new

> compounds using a novel drug discovery paradigm that starts with natural

> products derived from plants; it then calls for selecting synthetic

> derivatives that show efficacy in multiple assays testing protection against

> various aspects of the nerve cell damage and death that occur in brain

> injuries and in age-associated neurodegenerative diseases. One compound,

> called CNB-001, which was derived from curcumin, the active ingredient in

> the spice turmeric, proved highly neuroprotective in all of the assays; it

> also enhanced memory in normal animals.

>

> While the Salk group has a great deal of expertise in age-associated

> neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, they do not run animal models of

> TBI and stroke. " To test the prediction that drugs from our new drug

> discovery scheme will work in multiple models of CNS disease and trauma, "

> Schubert explains, " we undertook a series of experiments to assay the drugs

> in collaboration with researchers at Cedars-Sinai and UCLA, who are leaders

> in the fields of stroke and TBI, respectively, and appreciate the potential

> for therapeutics based on natural products and their derivatives. "

>

> Employing the same animal model of stroke that was used to develop TPA,

> Lapchak, Ph.D., of the Department of Neurology at the Burns and

> Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,

> collaborated with Schubert's team in a study that showed that CNB-001 was at

> least as effective as TPA in preventing the behavioral deficits caused by

> stroke. The study, published in the Dec. 2, 2010 edition of the Journal of

> Neurochemistry, also demonstrated that unlike TPA, which reduces clotting in

> the blood vessels of the brain, the Salk compound has a direct protective

> effect on nerve cells within the brain. Maher has found that it maintains

> specific cell signaling pathways required for nerve cell survival.

>

> Similarly, in a study to be published in early 2011 in Neurorehabilitation

> and Neural Repair, Gomez-Pinilla, Ph.D., and his colleagues in the

> Department of Physiological Science and Division of Neurosurgery at the

> University of California, Los Angeles used a rodent model of TBI to

> demonstrate that CNB-001 dramatically reversed the behavioral deficits in

> both locomotion and memory that accompany the brain injury. As with stroke,

> CNB-001 was again found to maintain the critical signaling pathways required

> for nerve cell survival, as well as the connections between nerve cells that

> are lost with the injury.

>

> The results of these two studies, which used two distinct models of brain

> injury, indicate that the Salk compound has clinical potential in conditions

> where there is currently no effective treatment.

>

> " Existing drug therapies for complex neurological conditions such as stroke

> and Alzheimer's disease target only one aspect of the condition, while in

> fact many different factors contribute to the pathology, " observes Schubert.

> " In the drug discovery program our lab uses at Salk, drug candidates must

> show efficacy in tissue culture models of several aspects of the condition

> before they are introduced into animal models. We believe that this approach

> is making an important difference in the discovery of effective drugs. "

>

> In related work, Maher used the same drug discovery paradigm to identify a

> compound that is effective in animal models of Huntington's disease.

> " Although these brain disorders appear very different, they share common

> changes in the nerve cells, which suggests that compounds that prevent these

> changes will be effective in multiple disorders, " she notes.

>

> ###

> In addition to Schubert and Gomez-Pinilla, Aiguo Wu, Ph.D., and Zhe Ying of

> the UCLA Department of Physiological Science contributed to the TBI study.

>

> Both studies were supported by the National Institutes of Health;

> Gomez-Pinilla's study received additional funding from the Craig Neilsen

> Foundation.

>

> About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies

>

> The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one of the world's preeminent

> basic research institutions, where internationally renowned faculty probe

> fundamental life science questions in a unique, collaborative, and creative

> environment. Focused both on discovery and on mentoring future generations

> of researchers, Salk scientists make groundbreaking contributions to our

> understanding of cancer, aging, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and infectious

> diseases by studying neuroscience, genetics, cell and plant biology, and

> related disciplines.

>

> Faculty achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including

> Nobel Prizes and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences. Founded in

> 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, M.D., the Institute is an

> independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark.

>

> Louis N. Molino, Sr. CET

> FF/NREMT/FSI/EMSI

> Typed by my fingers on my iPhone.

> Please excuse any typos.

> (Cell)

> LNMolino@...

>

>