Why Would It Hard To Find A Cure For Spinocerebellar Ataxia?
i just thought that i maybe would be interested in participating in medic field, i just curious why would it was so hard to find the cure of this disease...
Bryan C - It's true this question is improperly listed under the 'Cancer' category.
First, there are actually many different types of Spinocerebellar Ataxias. Some are genetic, some are caused by injury, some are even sporadic. They all tend to get worse over time, generally on the order of years (from a few to even 30 years). Though they are all quite different in terms of mechanism, they all are considered Spinocerebellar Ataxias because 1) they affect the 'spinocerebellar' aspect of the brain and 2) they result in an 'ataxic' way of walking.
Diseases which affect the brain are generally difficult to treat because we don't understand too much of what's going on and also it's a hard region to target drugs to. The blood brain barrier actively keeps out a lot of common drugs and substances to protect the brain.
Genetic diseases can be tough to treat because every cell contains the instruction for that 'problem'. We are making progress with gene therapy, but we're still not quite there yet--except for some autoimmune diseases which we've made impressive strides in some areas.
I'll leave the answer at this. Unfortunately the question is not specific enough at this point to dive into the details of why a cure is hard for that particular type of Spinocerebellar Ataxia.
i just thought that i maybe would be interested in participating in medic field, i just curious why would it was so hard to find the cure of this disease...
april - Because you're in the cancer forum...
ReplyDeleteBryan C - It's true this question is improperly listed under the 'Cancer' category.
ReplyDeleteFirst, there are actually many different types of Spinocerebellar Ataxias. Some are genetic, some are caused by injury, some are even sporadic. They all tend to get worse over time, generally on the order of years (from a few to even 30 years). Though they are all quite different in terms of mechanism, they all are considered Spinocerebellar Ataxias because 1) they affect the 'spinocerebellar' aspect of the brain and 2) they result in an 'ataxic' way of walking.
Diseases which affect the brain are generally difficult to treat because we don't understand too much of what's going on and also it's a hard region to target drugs to. The blood brain barrier actively keeps out a lot of common drugs and substances to protect the brain.
Genetic diseases can be tough to treat because every cell contains the instruction for that 'problem'. We are making progress with gene therapy, but we're still not quite there yet--except for some autoimmune diseases which we've made impressive strides in some areas.
I'll leave the answer at this. Unfortunately the question is not specific enough at this point to dive into the details of why a cure is hard for that particular type of Spinocerebellar Ataxia.
Sofroniaa - Ι think it is better seeing a doctor in person to answer this kind of questions.
ReplyDelete