Methods of treating prion disease in mammals
View Patent ↗The invention is related to the treatment of prion-related diseases such as the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in mammals by administering chaotropic agents to or inducing a hyperthermia state in the affected mammals.
1. A method of treating a prion disease in a mammal, comprising selecting a mammal that is suffering from a prion disease, and administering an effective amount of a guanidine salt to the mammal.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said guanidine salt is guanidine hydrochloride.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prion disease is transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said prion disease is scrapie, transmissible mink encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, spongiform encephalopathy of exotic ruminants, feline spongiform encephalopathy, kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), fatal familial insomnia, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheiniker syndrome, or new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD).
5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said mammal is human, cow, sheep, mink, or cat.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said prion disease is bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein said mammal is a cow.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said prion disease is CJD or nvCJD.
9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein said mammal is human.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising inducing hyperthermia in said mammal during the course of treatment with the guanidine salt.
11. The method of claim 2 , wherein between about 5 mg and about 40 mg per kilogram of guanidine hydrochloride is administered per day.
12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said hyperthermia is produced through applying microwave energy.
13. The method according to claim 10 , wherein said hyperthermia is induced by administering pyrogenic material to the mammal.
14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein said pyrogenic material is a mixture of inactivated bacterial toxins.