[Current Trends in the Treatment of Prion Disease]

Prion disease refers to a group of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by a relentlessly progressing clinical course leading to death. The pathogenesis of prion disease is the conversion of a normal type prion protein (PrP(C)) into a pathological isoform with protease resistance (PrP(Sc)), which accumulates in the brain. A number of therapeutic agents, including quinacrine, doxycycline, and pentosan polysulphate have shown preventive effects against the conversion of PrP(C) into PrP(Sc) in experimental studies; however, none of these agents have shown satisfactory efficacy in clinical trials. As the clinical course of prion disease varies, the design of clinical trials has been particularly difficult. These limitations must be overcome, and it is necessary to determine a basis for clinical trials with the new candidate agents.