PLT Test Blog

    A microglial cell, labelled in green, contacts and attacks a myelinated axon (in red). In the presence of the pHERV-W envelope protein, this interaction leads to axonal injury. The blue structures are cell nuclei. Credit: HHU / Joel Gruchot / Patrick Küry     It is surprising that only about 2% of human DNA encodes the 20,000 or so genes we all have.   The other 98% used to be called junk DNA. About 8% of your DNA is made up of Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) that have been picked up during evolution and most of which have been inactivated and can indeed be regarded as junk. Some of these old viruses that became part of human DNA remain fully functional, can be activated; they are implicated in disease ranging from Multiple Sclerosis (MS), to cancer, to schizophrenia and ALS (motor neuron disease). The best documented ERV is the one that affects some people with MS, it is called HERV-W  (the H is for Human).   Only in the presence of a protein ...

  A festive queue at the pharmacy for Glutamate Inhibitors We have now established that much autism and indeed other disorders, from Down Syndrome to Schizophrenia, features a degree of excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) imbalance. It is very likely that there are multiple underlying causes for this and so there may be multiple treatments.   We can even potentially use a treatment for one cause (ALS) to improve outcomes in others.   So we can (partially) solve a problem without fully understanding its origin, as frequently is the case in biology. An E/I imbalance might cause anxiety in the adult with Asperger (treatable with Baclofen), contribute to MR/ID in the child with Down Syndrome and contribute to seizures and cognitive loss in someone with severe autism. Very interestingly in the comments to a previous post, Agnieszka has pointed out why common penicillin type antibiotics (beta-lactams) improve many people’s autism.   This is very common observation and our other gu...