NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CurePSP, the leading nonprofit advocacy organization focused on prime of life neurodegenerative diseases, has approved funding for two studies that hold promise for understanding the pathology and progression of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). The grants total approximately $212,000 and will fund studies in tau protein pathology and the role of environmental factors in PSP.
The Stephen N. Jasperson/CurePSP study investigates the efficacy of potential new drug candidates in modifying disease progression in PSP patients. The principal investigator, Dr. Wai Haung (Ho) Yu of Columbia University, and his team aim to stimulate brain cells to dispose of “misfolded” and accumulated tau protein that, in its pathological state, leads to neurodegeneration. Dr. Yu will use small molecules to activate tau protein clearance through a process called autophagy, which is in essence the brain’s “garbage disposal” system that clears damaged cells and regenerates new ones. The study will be conducted over one year.
The study recognizes Dr. Jasperson, professor emeritus of physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, who suffers from PSP, and is funded by his family.
The second grant has been awarded to Dr. Dominique Caparros-Lefebvre of the Centre Hospitalier in Wattrelos, France, for the study of the effects of heavy-metal contamination and other environmental toxins on the development of PSP. Dr. Caparros-Lefebvre and her team will study a formerly heavily industrialized region in Northern France that suffers twelve times more incidences of PSP than the general population. Dr. Caparros-Lefebvre and her colleagues will analyze contamination in the air, soil and home-grown vegetables. The researchers will perform a case-control questionnaire on food consumption, occupation and lifestyle factors to investigate a possible link between PSP and a contaminated environment. The study, expected to be completed in two years, could be the first to tie the disease to environmental contamination.
Dr. Alex Klein, CurePSP Vice President-Scientific Affairs, said, “These two studies hold significant potential for increasing our understanding of the factors that influence the onset and progression of PSP. We are extremely grateful to the Jasperson family for their generous support.”
About CurePSP
CurePSP is the leading nonprofit advocacy organization focused on prime of life neurodegenerative diseases – a spectrum of fatal brain disorders that often strike during a person’s most productive and rewarding years. Currently there is no treatment or cure for these disorders, which affect more than 150,000 people in the U.S. alone. Since it was founded in 1990, CurePSP has funded more than 165 research studies primarily in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and the related disease corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and is the leading source of information and support for patients and their families, other caregivers, researchers, and doctors and allied healthcare professionals. CurePSP is based in Timonium, MD, with an office in New York City. Please visit http://www.psp.org/ for more information.
