Abstract
Prion diseases belong to a group of fatal infectious diseases with no effective therapies available. Throughout the last 35 years, less than 50 different drugs have been tested in different experimental animal models without hopeful results. An important limitation when searching for new drugs is the existence of appropriate models of the disease. The three different possible origins of prion diseases require the existence of different animal models for testing anti-prion compounds. Wild type, over-expressing transgenic mice and other more sophisticated animal models have been used to evaluate a diversity of compounds which some of them were previously tested in different in vitro experimental models. The complexity of prion diseases will require more pre-screening studies, reliable sporadic (or spontaneous) animal models and accurate chemical modifications of the selected compounds before having an effective therapy against human prion diseases.
This review is intended to put on display the more relevant animal models that have been used in the search of new antiprion therapies and describe some possible procedures when handling chemical compounds presumed to have anti-prion activity prior to testing them in animal models.
Keywords: Anti-prion drug, Model, Prion diseases, TSE, Transgenic mouse, PMCA, Cell-free system, Cell culture.
Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry
Title:Animal Models for Testing Anti-Prion Drugs
Volume: 13 Issue: 19
Author(s): Natalia Fernández-Borges, Saioa R. Elezgarai, Hasier Eraña and Joaquín Castilla
Affiliation:
Keywords: Anti-prion drug, Model, Prion diseases, TSE, Transgenic mouse, PMCA, Cell-free system, Cell culture.
Abstract: Prion diseases belong to a group of fatal infectious diseases with no effective therapies available. Throughout the last 35 years, less than 50 different drugs have been tested in different experimental animal models without hopeful results. An important limitation when searching for new drugs is the existence of appropriate models of the disease. The three different possible origins of prion diseases require the existence of different animal models for testing anti-prion compounds. Wild type, over-expressing transgenic mice and other more sophisticated animal models have been used to evaluate a diversity of compounds which some of them were previously tested in different in vitro experimental models. The complexity of prion diseases will require more pre-screening studies, reliable sporadic (or spontaneous) animal models and accurate chemical modifications of the selected compounds before having an effective therapy against human prion diseases.
This review is intended to put on display the more relevant animal models that have been used in the search of new antiprion therapies and describe some possible procedures when handling chemical compounds presumed to have anti-prion activity prior to testing them in animal models.
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Cite this article as:
Fernández-Borges Natalia, Elezgarai R. Saioa, Eraña Hasier and Castilla Joaquín, Animal Models for Testing Anti-Prion Drugs, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 2013; 13 (19) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/15680266113136660177
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/15680266113136660177 |
Print ISSN 1568-0266 |
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher |
Online ISSN 1873-4294 |
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