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Posted by mj2dz930
- January 13, 2011, 05:26:51 PMUnder an agreement between Johns Hopkins University and Guilford, Snyder and Ted
Dawson,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, M.D., Ph.D., another Hopkins author on the Nature Medicine paper,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, are entitled to a
share of royalties received by the University from Guilford. The University owns stock in
Guilford, with Snyder and Dawson having an interest in the University share under University
policy. Snyder serves on the Board of Directors and the Scientific Advisory Board of
Guilford, is a consultant to the company, and owns additional equity in Guilford. This
arrangement is being managed by the Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict
of interest policies.
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions' news releases are available on a PRE-EMBARGOED basis on
EurekAlert at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and from the Office of Communications and Public Affairs'
direct e-mail news release service. To enroll, call 410-955-4288 or send e-mail to
bpalevic@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu or You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.
Scientists at Hopkins and Guilford put the new drugs to the test alongside the original
immunosuppressive drugs, first in studies of chicken nerve cells in the lab, and later in rats
whose sciatic nerve had been crushed. There was no significant difference in the new drugs'
ability to stimulate growth of new nerve cell branches and cause regeneration of lost branches.
Hopkins scientists discovered that brain cells have 10 to 50 times more immunophilins
than immune cells and that immunophilins in the brain are linked to a variety of important
nerve cell functions, including the ability to regenerate lost branches of the cell and generate
new branches.
Immunosuppressive drugs like cyclosporin A and rapamycin were originally
developed to prevent a patient's immune system from rejecting an organ transplant. When
researchers looked for the compounds immunosuppressive drugs bind to in the body, they
found a group of proteins called immunophilins.
On a POST-EMBARGOED basis find them at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login,
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Newswise at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login or on
CompuServe in the SciNews-MedNews library of the Journalism Forum under file extension ".JHM",
Quadnet at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login or ScienceDaily at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.
--JHMI--
"We showed that these compounds can cause recovery of functions and behaviors
previously lost to nerve damage in lab animals," says Solomon Snyder, M.D.,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Hopkins
director of neuroscience and principal author on the paper, which appears in this month's
Nature Medicine.
"We believe this is the first demonstration through an orally administered treatment of
a significant regenerative effect on nerve cells without suppression of the immune system."
"The new drugs were even able to regenerate the protective myelin sheath surrounding
the branch, which is critical to recovery of function," says Snyder.
Immunosuppressive drugs bind to immunophilins; together, the two interact with a
protein called calcineurin to suppress the immune system. Researchers at Hopkins and
Guilford, using new techniques from molecular biology and a field called combinatorial
chemistry, attached chemical structures to the drugs that prevented them from binding to
calcineurin but did not affect their ability to attach to immunophilins.
Representatives from Guilford hope to begin clinical trials of some of the new drugs in
a year or more. Guilford is a private biopharmaceutical company based in Baltimore.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., have successfully
modified a group of established drugs to stimulate nerve growth without suppressing the
immune system.
Other authors on the Nature Medicine paper were Joseph Steiner,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Maureen Connolly,
Greg Hamilton and Heather Valentine, of Guilford; and, Ted Dawson, and Lynda Hester of
Hopkins. The studies were funded by Guilford and the National Institutes of Health.
"These are proteins frequently used by the cell for what we call signal transduction,"
explains Snyder. "They bind to something outside the cell, and as a result of that binding
cause changes inside the cell--make it less likely that an immune cell will proliferate, for
example."
The researchers say the development is a critical step toward using the new
compounds as treatments for a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's
disease or multiple sclerosis, or brain injuries from stroke or head trauma.
New Variations On Old Drugs Promote Nerve Regeneration
Dawson,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, M.D., Ph.D., another Hopkins author on the Nature Medicine paper,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, are entitled to a
share of royalties received by the University from Guilford. The University owns stock in
Guilford, with Snyder and Dawson having an interest in the University share under University
policy. Snyder serves on the Board of Directors and the Scientific Advisory Board of
Guilford, is a consultant to the company, and owns additional equity in Guilford. This
arrangement is being managed by the Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict
of interest policies.
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions' news releases are available on a PRE-EMBARGOED basis on
EurekAlert at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and from the Office of Communications and Public Affairs'
direct e-mail news release service. To enroll, call 410-955-4288 or send e-mail to
bpalevic@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu or You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.
Scientists at Hopkins and Guilford put the new drugs to the test alongside the original
immunosuppressive drugs, first in studies of chicken nerve cells in the lab, and later in rats
whose sciatic nerve had been crushed. There was no significant difference in the new drugs'
ability to stimulate growth of new nerve cell branches and cause regeneration of lost branches.
Hopkins scientists discovered that brain cells have 10 to 50 times more immunophilins
than immune cells and that immunophilins in the brain are linked to a variety of important
nerve cell functions, including the ability to regenerate lost branches of the cell and generate
new branches.
Immunosuppressive drugs like cyclosporin A and rapamycin were originally
developed to prevent a patient's immune system from rejecting an organ transplant. When
researchers looked for the compounds immunosuppressive drugs bind to in the body, they
found a group of proteins called immunophilins.
On a POST-EMBARGOED basis find them at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login,
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Newswise at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login or on
CompuServe in the SciNews-MedNews library of the Journalism Forum under file extension ".JHM",
Quadnet at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login or ScienceDaily at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.
--JHMI--
"We showed that these compounds can cause recovery of functions and behaviors
previously lost to nerve damage in lab animals," says Solomon Snyder, M.D.,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Hopkins
director of neuroscience and principal author on the paper, which appears in this month's
Nature Medicine.
"We believe this is the first demonstration through an orally administered treatment of
a significant regenerative effect on nerve cells without suppression of the immune system."
"The new drugs were even able to regenerate the protective myelin sheath surrounding
the branch, which is critical to recovery of function," says Snyder.
Immunosuppressive drugs bind to immunophilins; together, the two interact with a
protein called calcineurin to suppress the immune system. Researchers at Hopkins and
Guilford, using new techniques from molecular biology and a field called combinatorial
chemistry, attached chemical structures to the drugs that prevented them from binding to
calcineurin but did not affect their ability to attach to immunophilins.
Representatives from Guilford hope to begin clinical trials of some of the new drugs in
a year or more. Guilford is a private biopharmaceutical company based in Baltimore.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., have successfully
modified a group of established drugs to stimulate nerve growth without suppressing the
immune system.
Other authors on the Nature Medicine paper were Joseph Steiner,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Maureen Connolly,
Greg Hamilton and Heather Valentine, of Guilford; and, Ted Dawson, and Lynda Hester of
Hopkins. The studies were funded by Guilford and the National Institutes of Health.
"These are proteins frequently used by the cell for what we call signal transduction,"
explains Snyder. "They bind to something outside the cell, and as a result of that binding
cause changes inside the cell--make it less likely that an immune cell will proliferate, for
example."
The researchers say the development is a critical step toward using the new
compounds as treatments for a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's
disease or multiple sclerosis, or brain injuries from stroke or head trauma.
New Variations On Old Drugs Promote Nerve Regeneration