Prof. Albena Yordanova and a team of Belgian scholars search for a cure for hereditary polyneuropathy
A
unique discovery by a Bulgarian scholar may produce a revolution in the
treatment of hereditary polyneuropathy. Assoc. Prof. Albena Yordanova
who leads a team of experts in the Belgian city of Antwerp, succeeded
in implanting a human gene responsible for the disease into a
Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as fruit fly. This experiment
will facilitate the research of the enzymes and mechanisms responsible
for the disease and help find a cure for it.
Assoc. Prof.
Yordanova has been working in the Flanders Interuniversity Institute
for Biotechnology. Her name was firstly made known to public in 2007
when she and her Bulgarian colleagues managed to isolate a gene
responsible for the atrophy of the peripheral muscle system. Today the
team continues the research by attempting to creat a new phenotype by
placing the mutated human gene into a fly. Their aim is to discover the
substances which may have a therapeutic effect in cases of
polyneuropathy. Currently the concrete fly used in the experiment has
developed the same symptoms as a person suffering from peripheral
neurapathy.
This discovery brings hope to millions of people. One
in every 2500 people on Earth is born with hereditary peripheral
neuropathy i.e. damaged connection between the spinal cord and the
muscles of the limbs. The disease results in degeneration of internal
organs, lost of balance, epilepsy. Over 300 families in Bulgaria suffer
from hereditary polyneuropathy. The disease surfaces earlier in men and
is more fatal for them. Lately Bulgarian medics have diagnosed cases of
seven-year-olds suffering from neuropathy.
Stella Stoyanova, Standart