Prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jackob's disease, occur when misshapen proteins accumulate in brain cells. No treatments are currently available, and they cause progressive neurodegeneration and death.
Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Massachusetts, have developed an approach that could, in future, 'turn off' the gene making the affected protein, potentially preventing disease progression.
Their findings are published in Science.
