Experimental Drug Reverses Schizophrenia In Mice
Monday, March 31, 2014 - 18:20
in Health & Medicine
An experimental anticancer compound, one of a class of compounds known as PAK inhibitors, appears to have reversed behaviors associated with schizophrenia and restored some lost brain cell function in adolescent mice with a rodent version of the mental illness. PAK inhibitors have been shown to confer some protection from brain damage due to Fragile X syndrome, an inherited disease in humans marked by mental retardation, in animal experiments. There is also some evidence suggesting PAK inhibitors could be used to treat Alzheimer's disease. Because the PAK protein itself can initiate cancer and cell growth, PAK inhibitors have also been tested for cancer. read more