[Therapeutic prospects for subacute transmissible spongiform encephalopathies]

There is currently no effective therapy available for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. However, a limited number of drugs such as polyanions, the amyloid-binding dye Congo red, amphotericin B and anthracyclines have been found to delay the appearance of the clinical signs in experimental prion diseases. Today, the most promising agent appears to be less toxic derivative the amphotericin B, MS-8209. Indeed this compound has a wide spectrum of anti-prion activity and constitute the unique molecule able to prolong survival time when treatment is performed at the late stages of infection. This result represents an important progress in therapeutical approaches of prion diseases and justify the development of new polyene antibiotic derivatives.